alot of things at once

Ive noticed alot of things at once wrong with my xj (or atleast think they are wrong)

1. a low hum/to a whine at certian speeds started about 3 weeks ago
the noise has gotten louder and to the point of afriad to drive

2. got under the jeep jacked up the rear and was checking with the drive shaft notice that when i move the driveshaft (was in park) had alot of play and that at the top (yoke?) seemed that the bear was worn was making a noise when i moved the shaft.

3. took off the right rear tire and noticed alot of play inside the axel in and out didnt go front to back was alot of play turning it back and forth (mind you it was still in park)

4. check my rear diff fluid and it seemed to be sorta thin, have been through some water obsticals and was stuck in some mud (no fluid leaks)

Ive been searching the forums for about the past week and have found scattered information of situations sorta like mine so i decided that a post was neccesary.

thanks!

1. Any ideas where the noise is coming from?

3. How much is a lot of play? I know when I take my rear tires off if I am working on something that they move some. Maybe an inch one way or the other. It always does it and I don't seem to have any problems so I have yet to worry about it.

4. Don't know why it would seem thin, water and oil don't mix. How long has it been since you've changed your differential oil? May be about time.

- Kevin

If you submerge the axles up to the centers or over them in either mud or water the hot axles will suck in the moisture thru the seals, capilary action. If you do more than drive thru that kind of obstacle you really should drop your diff covers and have a look, if you do it alot you might want to invest in clear diff covers

took it over to my grandfathers and his brother they both used to be machanics and we did some tests and we think its the carrier bearing, atleast we think, the sounds most certianly comeing from the diff, so tommrow me and my dad are gonna work on it take the cover off and see what we can do

wish me luck

:spin1:

does anyone have a link/or picture of a D35 taken apart?