Grinding noise from rear end --> Differential or bad Wheel Hub?

[MTiz]

Hello everyone,

I've been getting a pretty bad grinding noise from the rear end since I bought the truck back in October. I initially thought I had a bad differential but when we took a peek inside it seemed fine. I've also seen some threads about wheel hubs and that seems to match exactly what I'm experiencing so I'm just looking for some confirmation.

I don't hear the noise while driving in a straight line, and it gets a lot more intense/louder at slow speeds and sharper turns-- doesn't make any noise when taking turns at 20+ MPH.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[1998Exp]

Hello everyone,

I've been getting a pretty bad grinding noise from the rear end since I bought the truck back in October. I initially thought I had a bad differential but when we took a peek inside it seemed fine. I've also seen some threads about wheel hubs and that seems to match exactly what I'm experiencing so I'm just looking for some confirmation.

I don't hear the noise while driving in a straight line, and it gets a lot more intense/louder at slow speeds and sharper turns-- doesn't make any noise when taking turns at 20+ MPH.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Don't have any good advice, but for the benefit of those who will, please post the vehicle mileage and the type of differential (if you don't know, there is an axle code on the door sticker. Should also be a tag on the differential itself). And by the way, what do you mean by "we took a peek and it seemed fine?" No shiny flakes in the oil by any chance? Did you look closely at the gears?

 

[MTiz]

Don't have any good advice, but for the benefit of those who will, please post the vehicle mileage and the type of differential (if you don't know, there is an axle code on the door sticker. Should also be a tag on the differential itself). And by the way, what do you mean by "we took a peek and it seemed fine?" No shiny flakes in the oil by any chance? Did you look closely at the gears?

Took it to a shop today and apparently my rear parking breaks were installed incorrectly. The noise isn't nearly as bad but it still persists. We will probably be diving into the differential deeper to see what the gears look like and if there is any metal flakes in the gear oil (and probably change the gear oil).

Specs: 1999 XLT (OHV) with 4WD, 186k miles.

 

[masospaghetti]

Noise while turning is usually bad wheel (or axle) bearings.

Keep in mind that axle bearings (unless their the special sealed repair ones) share the same gear oil as the differential bearings, so flakes in the oil doesn't really narrow things down.