dana 35 failure?

Hi all, my XJ D35 rear end is getting noisier and noisier. I have had the vehicle for almost 2 yrs and put on about 15000 kms.
The noise can best be described as a growl, most notable on deceleration and the coast spot inbetween accel and decel - all sounds fine when I'm on the gas but when I let off a bit and you can 'feel' that the pinion is no longer bearing on the ring gear it starts to growl. then when you let off the gas completely and have compression braking it gets more noticeable.

I have checked the fluid and it is full and looks ok (through the filler hole)

Anyone have a D35 go out on them?

FWIW it's a 1990 and the largest tires that have been on it are 31's and that was only for last summer. It was a princess when I got it 2 years ago and I doubt it ever had anything bigger than stock. I was thinking wheel bearings but they check out ok (jacked up and rotated/pushed/pulled on).

Planning to pull the diff cover this weekend - wondering if anyone had BTDT experience

sounds like the crush sleeve has lost the tension on the pinion bearing.
similar thing happened to me.
Try retorqueing the pinion nut, I forget spec, but be careful not to overtorque it or you'll change the bearing preload.
It's likely that you'll end up changing the pinion bearings, if this is the case, I'd just go and find a new axle in the yard that's got good gears and bearings and swap it in.
A link that might help
http://madxj.com/MADXJ/technical/technicalfiles/SRpinionSeals/PinionSeals.htm

thanks for the pointer

the thing of it is that I have an disc brake 8.8 all prepped and ready to go in so it only has to last me a couple more months (it's winter here and too many complications - 8.8 is 4.10 and I have the carrier and gears for the front D30 but don't feel like laying down in my snowy/icy driveway swapping out gears and checking backlash, etc.)


I will check the pinion nut.