Whining 8.8 Rear...

I recently tore apart my steering and afterwards the rear axle started whining btwn 25 and 40mph. It sounds exactly like low-range gear whine and sounds the same whether I'm engine braking or coasting. Can't hear it on accel, but I have pretty loud exhaust. I took the rear driveshaft off and spun the remaining drivetrain to those speeds and no whine.

I haven't done anything to the rear axle besides tilting it after my SYE install (13k miles ago). Mobil One synthetic lube has been in it for the last 40k miles. I dumped the fluid and there's no metal flakes, just usual posi clutch wear. I put about a 1/2 qt extra lube in than normal after tilting up the pinion.

It this something an axle bearing can cause? Or just the pinion bearing? The pinion still rotates smoothly and I can't feel any play in it. If I pull the shafts, what should I look for? Discoloration on the bearing? Also, is there some torque value for rotating the pinion with the gears in?

Sorry about the long post, TIA.

Brad
'93 xj , 3" lift , '97 Exploder 8.8 3.73 posi

I'm trying to decipher how tearing apart your steering has anything to do with your rear axle whining?????

A pinion bearing will generally only make noise on aceleration, since that is when the bearing has the most stress on it. Acceleration forces tend to push the pinion away from the ring gear, stressing the bearing.

crash

Sorry CRASH,
No relevance, but that's how my summer's been going, get one thing fixed and something else goes south at the same time!

Everything I found on the driveline suppliers' websites said a bad pinion bearing will whine on decel. I can't pinpoint the whine with the rear jacked up and don't want to get my head too far under there .

I was thinking it was the axle bearings b/c there's no change whether engine braking or coasting in N. Does this make any sense?

What does a bad axle bearing sound like usually? Thanks for posting CRASH.

brad
too much fixing this summer has turned me retarded...