Rear End Whine

[wgreggking]

going with a heavier weight diff oil fixed me right up...

What brand and weight?

 

[Guyfromthenorth]

Have you checked the Ujoints? A sticky\worn ujoint will whine at first, eventually once the needles grind up to powder the joint becomes off center and will vibrate like an out of balanced tire and eventually fail completely.

I had a whine in my 2014, because it was from a powertrain component it sounded sort of "everywhere" at highway speed, but more towards the middle\front of the truck if I had to guess. I assumed ujoint but they felt fine, I moved to the front hub bearings. The drivers side was a touch "rough" so I changed it, still had the sound. While taking the brakes off on the passenger side to access the hub and inspect it I spun it to listen for the sound and found a terrible noise actually from inside the front diff on passenger side. It was so loud and scary I was shocked it only sounded like a hum\whine while driving.

Luckily I had 2wks of warranty left and brought it in, 5000$ just in parts alone to replace the front end!

 

[U&A]

Have you checked the Ujoints? A sticky\worn ujoint will whine at first, eventually once the needles grind up to powder the joint becomes off center and will vibrate like an out of balanced tire and eventually fail completely.

I had a whine in my 2014, because it was from a powertrain component it sounded sort of "everywhere" at highway speed, but more towards the middle\front of the truck if I had to guess. I assumed ujoint but they felt fine, I moved to the front hub bearings. The drivers side was a touch "rough" so I changed it, still had the sound. While taking the brakes off on the passenger side to access the hub and inspect it I spun it to listen for the sound and found a terrible noise actually from inside the front diff on passenger side. It was so loud and scary I was shocked it only sounded like a hum\whine while driving.

Luckily I had 2wks of warranty left and brought it in, 5000$ just in parts alone to replace the front end!

So what exactly was wrong with the front end


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[pwjouster]

What brand and weight?

whatever brand they use and stock at dealers, just the heavier weight they provide.

 

[Guyfromthenorth]

So what exactly was wrong with the front end


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The dealer told me it was "bad" and replaced the entire thing. He said they don't bother repairing specific parts of the front end but just replace it as a unit. I didn't question it but to me it definitely sounded severe, and I did crawl under and confirm it was a brand new diff when I got it back. You know that sound in movies when a steel ship hull is groaning and creaking before the hero's have a "real bad time". It sounded like that when I turned the axle shaft by hand, but then like a bad wheel bearing when driving at highway speeds. It was MUCH louder when turning the shaft in the forward direction, which made me think the gears had torn themselves up pretty badly, possible due to bad original gear setup (lash\preload) or due to a failed side bearing throwing the carrier alignment off.

 

[U&A]

The dealer told me it was "bad" and replaced the entire thing. He said they don't bother repairing specific parts of the front end but just replace it as a unit. I didn't question it but to me it definitely sounded severe, and I did crawl under and confirm it was a brand new diff when I got it back. You know that sound in movies when a steel ship hull is groaning and creaking before the hero's have a "real bad time". It sounded like that when I turned the axle shaft by hand, but then like a bad wheel bearing when driving at highway speeds. It was MUCH louder when turning the shaft in the forward direction, which made me think the gears had torn themselves up pretty badly, possible due to bad original gear setup (lash\preload) or due to a failed side bearing throwing the carrier alignment off.

I assume FCA does not do much repair on differentials as they are not made by them. It’s made by AAM as a full assembly.


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[wgreggking]

whatever brand they use and stock at dealers, just the heavier weight they provide.

When you say "Dealer" do you mean that Ram heard the noise and filled it with heavier diff lube , 110 or 140? I have a whine at 60-70, when just letting off, and slight on throttle. Had it for a while, now at 28K miles.

 

[pwjouster]

you should test a heavier oil.


no, after 5k or so i noticed some weird behavior.
i had tire squeal when turning from a stop, and a slipping sensation at times.
reminded me of the issues i had in my JKU rubicon.... so i replaced the dif oil and requested the dealer use a tier heavier oil. doing the factory fill made it covered by warranty, otherwise Amsoil Severe Gear all day.

my guess, if you drive hard, the diff oil in factory fill will shear too quickly and the slip additive/ or friction modifier will deteriorate or otherwise fail.
dependent on climate of course.... Florida is so hot most oils act like water lol you may need to switch back to the lighter oil for wintertime.
i drive very hard and aggressive, and the heavier diff oil has already held up better then the factory spec and im at 16k hard miles.

 

[wgreggking]

PJW Thanks for that answer. I may just switch to heavier lube, I'm not having any serious issues. likely go with RL or ams 75w110. as I do travel in northern AZ at temps of 0 + degrees.
All the noise these Rams make, I'm told is always NORMAL.

 

[22hemi13]

PJW Thanks for that answer. I may just switch to heavier lube, I'm not having any serious issues. likely go with RL or ams 75w110. as I do travel in northern AZ at temps of 0 + degrees.
All the noise these Rams make, I'm told is always NORMAL.

They are noisy lol....knocking, banging, clunking, whining, ticking, and more. 100k on mine and still chugging.

 

[wgreggking]

I got rid of the whine. Has 30 K on it. Over time I developed a whine off throttle at 65-70. Not real loud but noticeable. ****** Me off many say it's normal, along with ticks, leaking manifolds etc. Here's what I found. The mag plug had a small amt of normal fine sludge metal on it, maybe a 64th in. The fill level was a little low about 1/2 " below the hole. I used a vacuum pump for doing oil changes in my boat, to remove the FF diff lube. Removed approx 3.75 qts. Poured into a clean container, the fluid was slightly brown but clear and not milky, not any glitter or silver flake. Had read all the posts on HD whining gears, and decided to use 85w140 GL5 full syn. My plan is to change every 30 K. I tow a fair amount of miles but not real heavy, 3K to 6k lbs maybe 10K miles out of 30K miles so far. Filled it up till the hole was dripping, about 4.25 qts, for the AA 11.5 LS. Took a half hour drive had it up to 85mph. no noise at all, like when I bought it new. Radio off windows closed, Silent. Will update if it comes back.

 

[sublime154]

Well, it's been a lot longer than I intended, but I think I'm finally on the road to get this resolved. After the last visit, they put some additive in the rear, and told me to drive it for a few hundred miles. I actually put on several thousand. The noise only got worse.

Sooooo, they are now going to replace the ring & pinion. The interesting thing is, the parts are on "backorder". Sounds to me like I'm not the only guy needing this fix.

As soon as they call me back in to do the repair, I'll let you all know if that did the trick.

 

[SKS 800]

I have a 2018 3500, 6.4 with 4.10 gears and it started whining around 1000 miles. I'm now at 5000 miles at it is getting louder. The dealer said I need to drive it 10,000 miles to give the gears time to mesh. i'm not buying that, but I have to wait and see.

 

[pwjouster]

the dif oil in these trucks from factory and the dealer factory fill will start to shear rather quickly if you tow or drive really aggressive.
You may have whine or you may have chatter.

im doing difs nearly every other oil change, because every 10k-15k miles the dif oil will be degraded to a point where i get slipping of the tires when turning and its very chatty.( I also spend alot of time in the mud) at 25k miles im now doing transmission and transfer case as well.

I now always request the heaviest weight the dealer stocks, as Florida is Hot, and even though i dont tow, i drive it way more aggressive then the FCA engineers thought i would.
75 140 i think.

 

[pwjouster]

just swap your dif oil to a heavier weight in a climate thats never below 50 degrees, like Florida.
OR just swap to a lighter weight for the winter time.
a hassle? yes
Costly? yes
the right way to do it? yes
because im OCD? maybe
to go 300k miles? Priceless

 

[GSomers]

I have a 2016 2500 4x4 with 4.10 rear that I bought new. I'm the only driver. I do some towing with it but it's just a 16' enclosed trailer or a 12' open utility trailer. I have pulled my 31' travel trailer a couple times (less than 200 miles total).

The whining noise started with less than 1000 miles on the truck when off throttle (coasting) from 60 mph down to 50 mph. Ring and pinion replaced under warranty at 4040 miles. Same thing all over again and replaced under warranty at 19030 miles. In both cases truck was still drivable just excessive noise. With less than 1000 miles on the last repair it started making noise all the time until it blew apart and is now undrivable at 19975.

My truck has been sitting at the dealer for over 5 weeks waiting on parts that are on back-order.

 

[Ole 340]

I did a customer survey and advised my whine comes on at 60 mph sharp under ltight to moderate throttle. Dealer says normal of course. Clearly audiable over radio on moderate volume and other road noise. Had since new and at 6,500 miles no major change. Ram left two voicemails on some form of customer service response. That gal spoke so fast the phone number and method of contact was not discernable. Recording was clear, information was just impossible to determine and I listened several times on both. I would have gladly contacted Ram. They made it obvious they wanted to check-off that they addressed my complaint but surely did not want to hear from me. My take-a-way was... Okay, I see with clarity how they handle customer issues.

 

[sublime154]

Well, after jumping thru hoops, and going thru the "steps", Ram is replacing the ring & pinion. I dropped it off on Monday, so hopefully I'll see it by Thursday or Friday. Let's hope that does the trick. I'm pretty certain that's the issue, but ya never know!

 

[Ribtipram]

I also have the whine at 55-65 mph. 2016 2500 3.73 gears. Got the truck 3 weeks ago. Rear started leaking from Pinion seal. Checked it. It was about a pint low. Its going back monday for the seal ill see what they say about the noise.

 

[crazy jerry]

the seal is fairly easy but if for some reason they **** it then your rear end will probly be trashed. actually it might already be going south if the gears are making noise