rear end howl

So i changed my wheel bearing on my 8.25 rear end. It has the c clips. And when I got the clip off and axle out I didn't put the pin back through. When i was putting the axle back in I spun it and the two small gears fell out... I got them back in and everything put back q but the howl is still there... Is there a wrong way to put those in? I'm thinking if its not that its some bearing.

Could be a pinion or side bearing. Have you looked at your backlash and pinion depth. If they are off by a significant amount you are most likely losing one or both of the corrisponding bearings.

if there were thrust washers behind those gears (they're commonly referred to as spider gears) and they fell out and weren't put back in that might have something to do with it.

was this noise there before you changed the bearing, and now it is still there? or is this a new noise?

Typically, the noise in a third member is due to the ring and pinion setup. Nat always, but the vast majority of the time. If this is the case, then the noise would have been there prior to the wheel bearing replacement.

The questions I have are:

Does the third member make the noise under acceleration or on the overrun (deceleration)?

Is it noisy all of the time?

And, as Grim asks, was the noise there before or was it being nasked by the wheel bearing?

It matters. If it is noisy all of the time, another bearing (I would think the pinion set) is most likely the root cause. Noise under load or on the overrun is backlash in the pinion setup.

I recently went through the "sort out the noise" issue with the Currie third member I have. In my case, it turned out that both shafts were bent, all of the bearings were shot and... there was 0.016" of backlash in the setup. Once the shop was done with the axle, it became acceptable. Should have replaced the gear set as well though...

Probably pinion or carrier bearings. 120 for a full bearing kit. About 4 hours at a shop.
You could get a used rear end but it might be bad also.

I have a howl like this in my 01 with the 8.25 as well. Mine does it only under a load such as acceleration, even under the slighest of loads. Coasting the noise stops. Would this mean its something in the diff? It is hard to tell if is coming from a side which is what makes me believe it might be diff related.

CleverUsername said:

I have a howl like this in my 01 with the 8.25 as well. Mine does it only under a load such as acceleration, even under the slighest of loads. Coasting the noise stops. Would this mean its something in the diff? It is hard to tell if is coming from a side which is what makes me believe it might be diff related.

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bad pinion bearing or ujoint. wheel bearings are constant, carrier bearings usually get worse or go away when turning left or right as a side load is put on the carrier, and pinion bearings usually make noise under load and quiet down when coasting. A ujoint can also make a lot of noise under load and quiet down when coasting, I would pull the driveshaft and check the condition of the ujoints... it's quicker and cheaper than opening up the rear end.

another thing to check is (if 4x4) pull the front driveshaft out and take it for a drive, if the noise goes away the problem is up front somewhere.