Annoying/crazy/intermittent high pitch rattle noise from rear of the truck

[Black06ram]

back in the summer I hit 50,000 miles on my 2005 Dodge Ram 1500 SLT Hemi auto 2wheel drive. It has been very well cared for its entire life. In June 2019 at 50,000 miles I did everything maintenance-wise I could think of. oil, trans fluid and filters, coolant flush, power steering flush, rear diff fluid, rear axle wheel bearings and seals, new EBC brake rotors on all 4 corners, new EBC greenstuff pads on all 4 corners, ball joints up front, front sway bar outer links, etc etc. Did it all myself as usual, just to know that at 50,000 miles it was given some real good TLC.

a few weeks after that all got done, while just driving around town I heard this awful sounding high pitch chattering/buzzing/grinding/screeching noise. Over the next few months it came and went and I replaced and checked various things, but had no luck tracking the noise down. The truck is my daily driver, but I do also park it for a few days at a time and take my 95 jeep wrangler and my 87 iroc camaro out.

The noise comes and goes, but it seems it has gotten more frequent. Makes sense... obviously something is wrong, and thats why there is a very noticeable noise! Duh

Like I mentioned above, a very high pitch rattle,buzzing,chirping,grinding. metal on metal for sure. it seems to be coming from the passenger side rear. Wish I could get a video, but I have no way of mounting a go-pro or camera phone under the truck (ideas)?!?!


So for troubleshooting, I have:
-disassembled the brakes caliper, bracket, pads a few dozen times and cleaned/lubed it all up (no change)
- swapped the caliper out for a brand new one at autozone (no change)
- swapped rear rotors left to right (no change)
- bled the brake system, especially the rear several times.
- completely detached the rear passenger caliper and placed wood blocks in between it, and tie-wired it to my leaf spring so the caliper/brake system was "out of play"....basicaly just wheel mounted on rotor on axle hub.. no brake caliper involved (no change, noise still there) leads me to believe that the noise is not brakepad knock-back or anything to do with the caliper brake system
- I next cleaned, lubed, and adjusted the parking brake system, and dialed back the star-wheel adjuster to be at its smallest point. (no change)
- had the truck jacked up and checked for play in the driveshaft u-joints (no play whatsoever)
- pinion nut recall/repair was done many years ago by the previous owner at a dealer.
- no leakage of fluid at rear diff cover or at either axle tube seal.

was considering checking/replacing the wheel bearings.. but before I did that, I wanted to check here with you guys. the wheel bearings aren't hard to do, but its a good chunk of time and $ to spend on fluid, LS additive, and bearings and seals... again ...when I just did this 4,000 miles ago in June 2019. ???

thoughts??? ideas?


The intermittent noise can appear when the truck is cold after being parked, noise also appears after driving when warmed up, and during long trips. it happens intermittently uphill, downhill, turning left and turning right. it happens MOST FREQUENTLY when I am coasting and I ever-so-gently get back onto the throttle. it will just start chirping/rattling/grinding until I either accelerate harder or get off the throttle and on the brakes. I've tried activating the parking brake while driving and the noise continues.

it is indeed a horrific sound, would love to solve this mystery! any and all help is very much appreciated!!

 

[Bloody_Knuckles]

Pinion bearing? Put it on jack stands and put it in neutral and spin the tires by hand while you are under the truck.

 

[Black06ram]

Ugh, I hope it’s not a pinion bearing. That’s beyond what I can do at my house since I don’t have a press or dial gauges to set everything back up. I’ll recheck what I can this weekend...

... but I tried to take a video of the noise while driving today. It’s a short video. You can definitely hear the noise here amongst the wind . It seems like it’s the passenger side but that could just be how the sound is echoing

here is the video

https://youtu.be/VLAXBAQyoRg

 

[Black06ram]

here is another video. its a high pitched noise, the youtube upload might alter the sound, but you can hear it in this video..



any help/advice is much appreciated

 

[Black06ram]

I decided to replace the rear passenger side axle bearing because thats where the noise seems to be coming from. it is difficult to tell though, as it only happens intermittently while I am driving on the road. it doesnt happen when the truck is up on jack stands.

I pulled the old bearing and seal, not sure about the wear here (inside on the rollers..and also on the outer face of the bearing housing) but the axle shafts were spotless.

I installed a new National 6408 bearing and a national seal. filled up the diff with 70-w140 and went for a test drive. about 7 minutes into the test drive, just when I was getting happy.. the noise appeared. i said a lot of curse words and drove home.. upset.

I had tried to check the pinion and u-joints for slop/play and found none.

I am beyond mystified and dejected. I don't know where to go from here or what else to do. something is obviously wrong, that noise is awful to hear, and I am running out of ideas for what it could be.

anyone. help. please. anything???

 

[Black06ram]

I have NO idea why my other post about this topic wound up in the "exterior" section of the third gen forum.. it was supposed to be here.


here it is:

back in the summer I hit 50,000 miles on my 2005 Dodge Ram 1500 SLT Hemi auto 2wheel drive. It has been very well cared for its entire life. In June 2019 at 50,000 miles I did everything maintenance-wise I could think of. oil, trans fluid and filters, coolant flush, power steering flush, rear diff fluid, rear axle wheel bearings and seals, new EBC brake rotors on all 4 corners, new EBC greenstuff pads on all 4 corners, ball joints up front, front sway bar outer links, etc etc. Did it all myself as usual, just to know that at 50,000 miles it was given some real good TLC.

a few weeks after that all got done, while just driving around town I heard this awful sounding high pitch chattering/buzzing/grinding/screeching noise. Over the next few months it came and went and I replaced and checked various things, but had no luck tracking the noise down. The truck is my daily driver, but I do also park it for a few days at a time and take my 95 jeep wrangler and my 87 iroc camaro out.

The noise comes and goes, but it seems it has gotten more frequent. Makes sense... obviously something is wrong, and thats why there is a very noticeable noise! Duh

Like I mentioned above, a very high pitch rattle,buzzing,chirping,grinding. metal on metal for sure. it seems to be coming from the passenger side rear. Wish I could get a video, but I have no way of mounting a go-pro or camera phone under the truck (ideas)?!?!


So for troubleshooting, I have:
-disassembled the brakes caliper, bracket, pads a few dozen times and cleaned/lubed it all up (no change)
- swapped the caliper out for a brand new one at autozone (no change)
- swapped rear rotors left to right (no change)
- bled the brake system, especially the rear several times.
- completely detached the rear passenger caliper and placed wood blocks in between it, and tie-wired it to my leaf spring so the caliper/brake system was "out of play"....basicaly just wheel mounted on rotor on axle hub.. no brake caliper involved (no change, noise still there) leads me to believe that the noise is not brakepad knock-back or anything to do with the caliper brake system
- I next cleaned, lubed, and adjusted the parking brake system, and dialed back the star-wheel adjuster to be at its smallest point. (no change)
- had the truck jacked up and checked for play in the driveshaft u-joints (no play whatsoever)
- pinion nut recall/repair was done many years ago by the previous owner at a dealer.
- no leakage of fluid at rear diff cover or at either axle tube seal.

was considering checking/replacing the wheel bearings.. but before I did that, I wanted to check here with you guys. the wheel bearings aren't hard to do, but its a good chunk of time and $ to spend on fluid, LS additive, and bearings and seals... again ...when I just did this 4,000 miles ago in June 2019. ???

thoughts??? ideas?


The intermittent noise can appear when the truck is cold after being parked, noise also appears after driving when warmed up, and during long trips. it happens intermittently uphill, downhill, turning left and turning right. it happens MOST FREQUENTLY when I am coasting and I ever-so-gently get back onto the throttle. it will just start chirping/rattling/grinding until I either accelerate harder or get off the throttle and on the brakes. I've tried activating the parking brake while driving and the noise continues.



... but I tried to take a video of the noise while driving today. It’s a short video. You can definitely hear the noise here amongst the wind . It seems like it’s the passenger side but that could just be how the sound is echoing

here is the video

https://youtu.be/VLAXBAQyoRg


here is another video. its a high pitched noise, the youtube upload might alter the sound, but you can hear it in this video..



any help/advice is much appreciated




it is indeed a horrific sound, would love to solve this mystery! any and all help is very much appreciated!!

 

[Black06ram]

I decided to replace the rear passenger side axle bearing because thats where the noise seems to be coming from. it is difficult to tell though, as it only happens intermittently while I am driving on the road. it doesnt happen when the truck is up on jack stands.

I pulled the old bearing and seal, not sure about the wear here (inside on the rollers..and also on the outer face of the bearing housing) but the axle shafts were spotless.

I installed a new National 6408 bearing and a national seal. filled up the diff with 70-w140 and went for a test drive. about 7 minutes into the test drive, just when I was getting happy.. the noise appeared. i said a lot of curse words and drove home.. upset.

I had tried to check the pinion and u-joints for slop/play and found none.

I am beyond mystified and dejected. I don't know where to go from here or what else to do. something is obviously wrong, that noise is awful to hear, and I am running out of ideas for what it could be.

anyone. help. please. anything???

 

[Karlsweg]

Did your notice any metal in the gear oil when you change it? Is it limited slip or an open rear?

 

[OCDTech]

Hang on, let me read again, i missed it.

 

[Octane]

The inner bearings at the sides of the differential inside the case may be causing it.

 

[OCDTech]

Ok, you have done alot of diagnosing there. I know how frustrating and confusing noises can be. Is there any chance this is a weird vibration from the exhaust. Videos are really hard to hear noises sometimes. Everything i can come up with seems you have too. Unless something is going on with the pinion again, any slack there i'm sure you checked that too. Another possibility is could be coming from the transmission.

 

[Octane]

What I've done in cases like this is I drive my vehicle till something breaks,then I know what to fix.Not the ideal way but ithas been the way I have had to do it at times.I've taken stuff in to shop and all I get is a "we can't find nothin' and a bill for the diagnosis or they throw parts at it till the problem goes away.At my big expense of course.

 

[OCDTech]

What I've done in cases like this is I drive my vehicle till something breaks,then I know what to fix.Not the ideal way but ithas been the way I have had to do it at times.I've taken stuff in to shop and all I get is a "we can't find nothin' and a bill for the diagnosis or they throw parts at it till the problem goes away.At my big expense of course.

Unfortunately sometimes this is the case. I know when its your daily it wil suck when it does break.

 

[pacofortacos]

Could be a dry u joint - not enough play in it to feel it yet, but within a month of driving it if it is a ujoint it will rear it's ugly head.

 

[Tumbleweed]

Sorry I can't help, but at least you have other vehicles to drive when it breaks.

 

[DodgeLady]

It’s hard to tell from the videos. I had an unidentified noise coming from my truck - what I described as a whine. My truck has 318k miles so it literally could have been anything!
Transmission service - ok
Replaced fuel pump - fixed another issue [emoji16]
Replaced alternator - fixed another issue.
Brakes ok.
But still had the whine.
Finally found a young Chrysler Master Tech who was a gear head- he has specialized in gears.
He drove my truck one block and said “ rear bearing”. ( as in pinion bearing).
And sure enough, that was it!
I know how frustrating an unidentified noise is - and I always worried about breaking down on the freeway. I avoided the freeway the last month prior to finding the problem.
Good luck!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Black06ram]

wow, great replies. thank you guys. I really appreciate everyone's input.

Yea, it is frustrating!!!
I initially thought it was brake pad knock back/rattle since the noise began only a month after I put in the EBC green pads and ebc rotors. After eliminating that and the parking brake system... I figured it had to be an outer bearing, since I had replaced those as well a month prior (just as preventative maintenance since I was changing rear axle fluid at the time). sadly, it wasn't an outer bearing. if it is more of an "inner" axle bearing, that is going to suck (pinion, carrier bearing).

I think what I'll do in the meantime is just swap out the U-joint at the driveshaft/axle housing. Should I bother doing the one up front at the trans/yoke too?



As much as it sucks to not be able to find the source of the noise.. if the u-joint replacement does not work, I will probably do just what a few of you have mentioned above.. just drive it until it breaks or some other indication of the problem gets more noticeable. I am only afraid of having the rear end lock-up on me while moving. as unlikely as that would be, it probably is possible. if its an inner pinion bearing or carrier bearing it will just get worse and worse until it fails right?


Of the other two vehicles I have, the 87 camaro is away for the winter and I am currently removing the engine this month to put in a dart 406 sbc built for nitrous and efi. The 95 wrangler I have is still driveable, but its a hard ride, especially on the highway etc. So, thats why I worked hard at trying to get this rear axle noise figured out and repaired.. so that I could not be worried about having a problem with my daily driver.

thanks again guys. please feel free to keep on suggesting advice. I am willing to read and learn. Probably will try the U-joint or u-jointS?) tomorrow or tuesday.

 

[Black06ram]

ok. here is the noise in two videos from outside the truck:



and




it does it when I am in gear moving, also when foot is on the brake and revving the throttle, AND while in park revving the throttle. it is NOT something with the rear axle. a mechanic buddy of mine came for a quick ride and he thinks it is something inside the exhaust... he grabbed a tailpipe when the noise was active, and as soon as he grabbed it, the noise stopped.

has anyone ever heard an insane noise like this from their exhaust? i know I have not.

thoughts??

 

[Black06ram]

yikes.. nobody has heard a noise like that before ? I'm stumped as to what the heck is going on here. but if you listen to those videos, the noise is clearly evident (and horrible sounding).

help please!!

 

[Karlsweg]

Well it has to be and exhaust issue obviously. Get underneath and see if the pipes are hitting something or you have cat, muffler or resonator coming apart from the inside. I would try an auto mechanic stethoscope and try to narrow the location down.