Is my rear end trashed?

[lesslimited]

Not the 9" in my XJ- the Dana 60 in my E-350 extended cargo van. It's a 95 with 168k miles, Powerstroke diesel. Had the trans done about 25k ago and it's been working fine. U-joints are fine. Coming home from work the other day I noticed a whine when coasting. Between picking up more materials and doing some evening work in my shop, I didn't have time to check it out. The next day noise is louder and on the way home started sounding more like grinding, and by the time I got home, I was also getting a clunking and jerking. That's when I checked the wheel bearings, brakes, and u-joints. I also checked the diff fluid and it was very slightly low. I then took it for a drive in the neighborhood to try and figure it out and it rapidly got worse. When going up the slight incline in my driveway, something was slipping, allowing the speedometer to jump up. I talked to a couple people who agreed that it sounds like the rear end, but does anyone have any other ideas for me to check out? I'm about 90% sure now but I'd like to eliminate any doubt before I have it towed to the gear shop. I had been considering going from the 3.55s to 4.10s anyway, but now it'll probably be a bit more expensive TIA

 

[Rev Den]

Pull the cover and look for chunks, if you do not see any i would suspect the trans. Was the speedo jumping accompanied by clunking? If so then the rear-end is the likly suspect.

Rev

 

[FELIX]

Also, when you pull the cover, if you have burnt gears, you'll know it by the smell. There'll be no mistake.

Burnt gear oil Mmmmm cough cough uke:

 

[lesslimited]

Pull the cover and look for chunks, if you do not see any i would suspect the trans. Was the speedo jumping accompanied by clunking? If so then the rear-end is the likly suspect.

Rev

Yeah, the clunking was pretty much continuous by then so I couldn't really tell if the speedo jumping was coordinated with any particular clunks. I probably will pull the cover tomorrow, but that's gonna be fun since the van won't fit in the garage and I don't think my air hose will reach where it's at. I'm afraid to move it now because I'm sure that will do more damage. :doh: I just remembered I have an electric impact wrench, too.

 

[lesslimited]

Re: Yes

Well, I pulled the cover today and it's definitely wasted. I think the jerking may have been caused by the big hunks of the pinion gear that were sitting in the bottom of the housing getting caught between it and the ring gear, and getting ground into smaller chunks.
http://home.comcast.net/~jjacjcarpentry/wsb/html/view.cgi-photo.html--SiteID-1255190.html
http://home.comcast.net/~jjacjcarpentry/wsb/html/view.cgi-photo.html--SiteID-1255206.html
Sorry about the big pics, there's still some stuff I need to learn on this picture thing.
What's kind of strange is that the gear lube seemed okay. Oh well, another interesting and expensive souvenir to hang on the garage wall

 

[CaptTrev]

OUCH!!

man, that musta been makin some BAD noises!!! :gag:

 

[Rev Den]

Yup...that's bad. Should'nt hurt too much.

Rev