help rear end noise

Just came home from work and started hering rear end noise. With my foot on the gas I get no noise. If i just cost I get a thump, thump, thump. Stick my head out the window and roll real slow I dont hear it pull my head inside and i here it. Apply the brakes and the noise goes away, tryed using the had brake to see if i could feel any binding in the brakes felt nothing i replaced the rear shoes 10,000 miles ago. dont see any leak from the diff will check oil in it in the morning gave the drive shaft a few good yankes and it dident budge. What in the world could this be.

it's a 96 4x4 camand trac, auto stock with 225/75/15's about 162000 miles on her

shes my daily driver and my next day off is wednesday i hate to make maters worse by driving her to work tomorow about 50 miles round trip.

sorry but i am the worlds worst speller

One suggestion: unhook the rear universal, and make sure it isn't binding. I had a rearend noise similar to yours, and the driveshaft looked and felt fine. I finally detached the driveshaft, and one cup on the rear universal was totally shot. It never went loose, though - it just went dry and turned the rollers to ugly black powder.

You might also do well to jack up the rear wheels and turn them to see if there's any noise, and if there is, open up the brakes and just make sure something like a spring hasn't come adrift.

make sure the transfer case didnt run dry, it could be toast as well