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[Wildman]

Without the carrier/locker there isn't anything to support the axles it has nothing to do with it being a c-clip axle or not. Because its' a semi-float axle the axle shafts support the weight of the vehicle. Only a full float axle could be driven with out the carrier and or axle shafts installed.

 

[JMT]

I guess I’ll leave it all apart till tomorrow to see if anyone else has any ideas, then I’ll close it up and try to get into a shop.

 

[JMT]

It’s rotational, and gear and pinion look fine, so it must be the pinion bearing. There’s nothing else possible.

 

[Woodrow]

I should’ve mentioned that when I bought this axle it had a spool and one of the pinion teeth was badly broken. Actually two or maybe three were broken and that scoring was on the case prior to my purchase.

For the life of me I cannot find where those fragments have come from.

Here’s a video of the ring gear

Yep. The ring gear looks good to me. @Brianj5600 ‘s comment about slowing down your video and noise frequency seems important. If the noise happens 1x per driveshaft rotation, wouldn’t that imply the pinion or its bearing are the only things in the diff that make sense?

 

[Wildman]

I guess I’ll leave it all apart till tomorrow to see if anyone else has any ideas, then I’ll close it up and try to get into a shop.

You could pull the pinion. If you have the tools to check it properly or rent them.
You need a inch pound torque wrench to check the rotational resistance. Compare that to the spec's for a installed pinion. There are different spec's for when you first install the gears and once they've been running.

You would put the torque wrench on the pinion nut and see how much it takes to turn the nut. Then you could remove the pinion nut and take out the pinion and bearings. Then when you reinstall the pinion you set the rotational resistance to the used spec's. If you don't have a inch pound torque wrench you should be able to rent one. Get one that has a dial face they are easier to read.

 

[rasband]

I was thinking something similar but putting it back together, minus the diff cover. Then use a drill to run the pinion nut and try to apply pressure at different spots to see if you can isolate it either by sound or feel. Keep the axle on jack stands so it hopefully loads similarly.

 

[Wildman]

Here are the setup spec's for your Dana 44.

So you want 6-9 inch pounds of preload (rotational resistance) when you try to turn the pinion nut. This is without the carrier installed.

 

[Wildman]

 

[JMT]

You could pull the pinion. If you have the tools to check it properly or rent them.
You need a inch pound torque wrench to check the rotational resistance. Compare that to the spec's for a installed pinion. There are different spec's for when you first install the gears and once they've been running.

You would put the torque wrench on the pinion nut and see how much it takes to turn the nut. Then you could remove the pinion nut and take out the pinion and bearings. Then when you reinstall the pinion you set the rotational resistance to the used spec's. If you don't have a inch pound torque wrench you should be able to rent one. Get one that has a dial face they are easier to read.

Thank you for the chart of specs. I’ve got an in lb dial indicator wrench that I can put on the pinion nut. What if it turns out to be the bearing? I’d have to remove it from the pinion and press a new one on.

 

[DrDmoney]

Were you able to load test it on jack stands?

 

[JMT]

Were you able to load test it on jack stands?

Yes, I tested it that way three times. I was not able to reproduce it under load on stands. I listened with a mechanics stethoscope to every CA, the TCase in various places, the pinion, every part of the axle to try to pick up something slight while under load on jack stands. The only possible change was in the pinion area and it was only very slight to the point I could be wrong or the change in sound could be normal.

 

[JMT]

IOW, @Wildman and @rasband. If I get the pinion off and I find the bearing is bad, I will have to reinstall it bad to drive somewhere to have it fixed. Right? If so, at this point it seems easier to just drive it where it needs to go to get fixed. That way the mechanic can duplicate the sound by driving it himself.

 

[Wildman]

IOW, @Wildman and @rasband. If I get the pinion off and I find the bearing is bad, I will have to reinstall it bad to drive somewhere to have it fixed. Right? If so, at this point it seems easier to just drive it where it needs to go to get fixed. That way the mechanic can duplicate the sound by driving it himself.

Thank you for the chart of specs. I’ve got an in lb dial indicator wrench that I can put on the pinion nut. What if it turns out to be the bearing? I’d have to remove it from the pinion and press a new one on.

If it's a bad bearing it depends on which one it is. And if it is a bad bearing I'm going to say it's the inner bearing. The outer bearing comes off by hand but if it's the inner bearing then you need a puller and then a press to get it back on. But you could take it to a shop to have them pull it and press the new one on.

I'd say it's up to you. If you feel you can pull the pinion out and then inspect the bearing I'd say go for it. And if it turns out it's bad then you'd have to find a shop to press it off and the new one on. That shouldn't be that hard to do honestly.

 

[Alex01]

I know the DS went to Adam's but maybe it's worth looking at the double carbon joint since they didn't replace it.

 

[JMT]

I know one thing. I’m OCD and I’m going to go crazy. I’d moved past the shaft bc Adams are the pros and they called it good after replacing the ujoint at the pinion end. I really don’t think it’s the pinion bearing. It’s clunking. Bearings hum or whine. It’s nothing remotely like that. It’s a rotational clunk. @Alex01 video got me chasing down other videos and forum posts. I found a Bronco and an XJ with the same sound and description identical and they ended up at the centering ball. I think I’ll tear down the DC and rebuild it all.

One thing my son said was, “Dad, when you get this fixed everything will be perfect on your Jeep since you’ve gone over everything and fixed all the little stuff.” It’s good encouragement.

 

[someguysjeep]

appears to have a few scars on the pinion head and the engagement is patterning a push all the way to the end of the tooth. does it llok like it's a bit deep into the root also? see that clean swipe at the bottom of the tooth.

when you put it back together put some grease on it and run a pattern.

 

[UKTJ]

I really hope you can find this soon, reading your posts I can feel the pain!

This saga has actually got me worried, I don’t have your knowledge or mechanical skill or somewhere to do the work. If something like this happened to me, as TJs are so rare in the UK now I don’t think I know of anywhere I could go to get it solved.

 

[UKTJ]

I know one thing. I’m OCD and I’m going to go crazy. I’d moved past the shaft bc Adams are the pros and they called it good after replacing the ujoint at the pinion end. I really don’t think it’s the pinion bearing. It’s clunking. Bearings hum or whine. It’s nothing remotely like that. It’s a rotational clunk. @Alex01 video got me chasing down other videos and forum posts. I found a Bronco and an XJ with the same sound and description identical and they ended up at the centering ball. I think I’ll tear down the DC and rebuild it all.

One thing my son said was, “Dad, when you get this fixed everything will be perfect on your Jeep since you’ve gone over everything and fixed all the little stuff.” It’s good encouragement.

I am not at all mechanical, so this may be a daft idea. If you think it may be a driveshaft issue would it be possible to swap the driveshaft with the one in the Twin’s TJ and see if you get the noise then?

 

[Farmergreg]

Those races appear to have wear and maybe some fragments rolled into them. I'd put all new bearings and races in while its apart.
What is the history of the axle again?

 

[JMT]

One thing your probably all seeing is that it’s 15* out. My warm breath goes into the diff and it fogs the pinion teeth. Mix that with the parts my hands touch and some gear oil and you get to thinking your seeing something that’s only a reflection, hand oil refraction, scrape, et.al. Trust me, I kept looking at them and taking double takes, wiping the tooth off, and continuing. Besides, I wouldn’t get a clunk from that. Like a big clunk you can hear standing 30 yards away from the rig. You might hear a whir or hum, but if it were a tooth or bearing it would sound different.

History of the axle

It had three broken teeth in the pinion when I first got this axle. Spider gears were welded together. 373 gears. The guy had been running 40’s and using it as a beach cruiser in Galveston, TX. I ran it for 2 weeks with the spool and even took it wheelin once. It would whir due to the broken teeth. One was quite substantially broken.

Had it regeared and the elocker added in February of 2019 at Just Jeeps in Austin, TX https://www.justjeepsaustin.com/.

Haven’t had a single issue since. Nothing strange happened off or on-road when this started about 2 months ago.