Rear Axle Problem and I think the Dealer is trying to scam me

Hey Everyone,

Thanks for reading my post. I took my Jeep to the local dealership yesterday which was probably my first mistake. First, I'll explain the problem exactly as I explained it to them. When driving my Cherokee (98 Limited 137k 2wd 4.0) I get a slight growling sound only when coasting or when I take my foot off the gas. I searched the threads here before I took it in but could only find simliar issues on 4x4 models that had been lifted. My Jeep is painfully stock and has never been off pavement. The Jeep dealership test drove it and said its likely either the axle bearing or the carrier bearing. They said I needed a complete differential overhall and that before they would even touch it the price would be $800-1000. Now I'm not a mechanic but I'm also not stupid and this seems insane to me considering we're talking about bearings and not a ring or pinion or spider gear assembly. I told them to stop and do nothing else because I'm not sure how honest they're being with me. I called a local indepedent shop and they said if it was either bearing it would run around $250-500. This seems much more reasonable considering what's being replaced. Does anyone have any input on this? The Jeep has absolutely no driveline vibrations and no ratcheting of any kind. The slight growl I'm hearing most people wouldn't notice and you can't hear it if the radio or fan is on at all. How long can I run like this and how big a deal is it? As soon as I'm back on the gas the noise is greatly diminished if not gone all together.

Thank for reading and I appreciate any thoughts.

Sounds like a bad u-joint...

Nick

I have the same thing. What u-joint are you thinking?

49erRider said:

I have the same thing. What u-joint are you thinking?

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Could be any of them. Easy to check just block the front wheels ,jack the rear off the ground , put it in neutral,grab the drive shaft at each u-joint and shake and pull different directions checking for play.

Nick

They said they did a full safety inspection and did a road test....wouldn't they have checked the u-joints? I guess if they're being dishonest I can't really trust anything they say.....

They may be right but ,I would check the u-joints..

Nick

a growling sound probably is a bearing. a u joint will give you a vibration or clunk while accelerating. if the carrier baerings are bad, metal shavings will be in the fluid and be dispersed throughout the rear diff housing contaminating the other bearings inside, ie. pinion bearings and possibly axle bearings. so if thats the caes i would suspect the dealer is replacing all the bearings and cleaning the housing to remove all the metal fragments. if they just changed the carrier bearings and didnt do the pinion bearings, it could still hae noises in the diff and they would have to tear it down again and replace the pinion bearings, more new fluid etc.

Sounds like they are just being thorough and covering their asses. They probably don't really know exactly what the problem is (Hard to tell without major diasassembly) so they probably figure that the best thing is to do it all. Take it to a drivetain shop, not the dealer for real diagnostics.

RIP OFF

you can find plenty of places that do ring and pinion installs for 200-300 bucks at most. and yes, that will include installing new bearings and such.

check your u-joints first, and if it ends up being a bearing, then theyre really not hard to replace on your own in the driveway depending on which bearing it is.

despite what some people think you can replace outer pinion bearings, and side carrier bearings in your driveway without having to reshim, and need special tools. but well get into that if it comes down to it

I test drove 5 Cherokees before I bought mine. They were all 1999-2001 models with 100-120k miles on them. They all had a varying degree of rear end noise on the throttle let-off. I really don't think it's anything to worry about, especially in the degree that you are describing it. The noise is from the differential ring and pinion mesh. If it was just the bearings it would be all the time. U joints are on acceleration. If you read the manual on ring and pinion assembly, it is all about blueing up and checking contact area and shimming and rechecking. These kind of rear ends will continue to operate until the point you are going deaf. No doubt your"s has at least another 100K miles left in it, probably more. It will get very loud before it fails. Oil will probably come out of the wheel bearings onto the brakes before it fails. In other words, relax and turn the radio up. Another thing is that Cherokees are built very lightly and with little or no sound insulation, so the sound carries a lot more than on most other vehicles.

A 98 Limited with 137k EASY miles on her. I would replace just the parts needed. If it were a much higher mileage or pounded on Jeep (2 or 4WD) I would say do a complete rebuild.

In the end. If someone else is going to do your wrenching. Find someone that knows his/her stuff. That you can trust. Many on here try hard to help but our internet crystal balls don't always give us a clear picture.

Don't need parts. It's OK as is.

88 Wagonman said:

Sounds like they are just being thorough and covering their asses. They probably don't really know exactly what the problem is (Hard to tell without major dissasembly) so they probably figure that the best thing is to do it all. Take it to a drivetrain shop, not the dealer for real diagnostics.

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I agree with that , they are more then likely trying to cover their butt by doing it all.

But before I paid $1000 Id buy a $200 JY rear end and try it or take it to another shop.

For $500 or less you could install a Mountaineer 8.8 with discs, another option.

Growl is common. At the very least, pull the rear cover yourself and look around. Flakes in the lube will be easy to spot, and new lube - even synthetic - may suppress it completely.

Older cars make noise as parts wear. Cherokees aren't Lincolns, as long as you can converse, it's no problem.

if you goto the dealer, for anything but specific parts, you lose.
its that simple, theyre crooks.

covering their tails, my ass! theyre making a buck.
thats what a buisness does, and theres nothing wrong w/ that.


roll it 'till the wheels fall off.

If it's never been checked, you may as well check the oil level. Scratch that idea, just change it and put in new. New oil every 10 years never hurt anything. And you can make sure there are no chips of steel in it. There won't be. Then you're good for another 10 years.

Hi,

Sorry if I'm hijacking this thread. I have a '96 XJ with 131K miles that has a whinning noise comming from the back of the jeep everytime I take the foot off the accelerator. I replaced the leaf springs with Crown heavy duty ones some time ago and the xj gain a couple of inches of lift, and now I get a growling noise when the jeep is coasting. Are these symptoms of bad u-joints.

Mike

StratoXJ said:

Hi,

Sorry if I'm hijacking this thread. I have a '96 XJ with 131K miles that has a whinning noise comming from the back of the jeep everytime I take the foot off the accelerator. I replaced the leaf springs with Crown heavy duty ones some time ago and the xj gain a couple of inches of lift, and now I get a growling noise when the jeep is coasting. Are these symptoms of bad u-joints.

Mike

Click to expand...

I would say no thats not a bad u-joint... But it never hurts to check them. Your noise sounds like a bearing. Check your gear oil for metal.

Good Luck
Nick

So here's an update****

I got the my beloved XJ out of the Jeep stealership as soon as I could. I took it to a local independent shop in town and they have replaced both rear bearings. The shop said that they inspected my axles when they replaced the bearings and they were ok. They said they put it all back together and now the vibration is reduced as he put it. I told him I never felt a vibration but I definitely heard bearing noise. He said it was a harmonic vibration/bearing noise....Are these things the same? Anyway, they replaced the bearings for $225 which I thought was fairly reasonable. While they were in there I had them replace both leaking transmission lines for another $200.

So after reading all the posts here is sounds like most XJ's have some sort of wear presenting itself as a noise or vibration from the rear axle. My question is.....should I continue to dig deaper and perhaps replace the ring and pinion gear or just live with what he calls "reduced vibration"? Now I always thought the dang thing drove out just fine so a little noise doesn't bother me at all. I just want to feel confident in the Jeep as my daily driver and know I'm not in an unsafe situation with a rear axle that's about to blow. Again, I never go offroad (2wd unfortunately) and I don't tow anything. The Jeep only sees 20 miles of freeway commuting daily so its not being abused in the slightest.

You sound like you haven't driven it yet. Is it worse than before? They usually get pretty loud before they "blow". From what you described before, I wouldn't be afraid to drive it back and forth cross-country. You said you had a whine on throttle let-off. That sure doesn't sound like a harmonic vibration. Hope they did it right. Someone else just posted how he tore his down, replaced the bearings himself, and it fixed his "whine".