Rear Differential Issue

[cden]

For the past year I have heard noises coming from the rear end. It dosent happen all the time but it would "pop" when I would give it some gas after putting it in drive or in reverse. So I took it in and it was told when they put weight on it the sound was gears in the rear diff. So I guess the gears are slipping or grinding. My rear diff. was leaking a few years ago but they replaced the seal and it is good now. It is a 2002 Ford Explorer xls. Around 115,000 miles. The mechanic said to tear it apart and look to see what it needs and fix everything I am looking at $1,500 plus. His advice was to baby it and drive it til it goes. The truck is clean and in great shape. I am looking to buy a camper and thought with the extra weight it would ruin my truck quick. I live in northwest Indiana. Any advice is much appreciated.

 

[DR_APLET]

well could be the gears were not put together right, my first thought is have you had the u-joints replaced? secondly you should be able to buy a junkyard axle for $500 or so pick n pull places usually sells axles for about $300 you just have to make sure its the right years and gear ratio. the specification section tells you what ratios are on the door pannel, and you can cross ref. to find the years ranges i think that is a third gen 20-05.

but i would first check u-joints its a cheap check. could be you have a warn c-clip in the rear diff.

 

[sethmorgan]

Mine would "pop" or "clunk" after shifting into Drive or Park or Reverse. I replaced the U-joints and the noises went away. I think there was slack allowed by the old u-joints.

 

[cden]

How would you go about to see if the u-joints are bad?

 

[DR_APLET]

if you put the transmission in neutral, block both the tires grab the drive shaft under the truck(the shaft going back to the rear end) and hold the part at the transmission and twist it and lift it up and down side to side if you see any movement between the joint they're bad. same with the one at the front of the rear shaft. everything should be tight and not move unless the truck is moving it. this is only an indicator if they are really bad too so its not definitive.