bapster

I purchased my 3rd gen a couple years ago w/50K miles on it. After driving it a while I noticed a cyclical whine coming from the rear axle. I think the noise was there from the beginning but I was too enamored with my CTD to even notice. The whine starts around 30mph all they way up to highway speeds and I can hear it under acceleration or deceleration and very little when coasting. The cycle of the whine appears to mimic the speed of the axle. From the research I've done it sounds like ring/pinion. It seems the noise is becoming more prominent (82K miles) so I guess I need to start planning to correct it.

I haven't priced the parts and labor for a new 3.73 ring, pinion and associated bearings but I am guessing I may be able to purchase a replacement axle and install it myself for less (found one for $700 with less than 1,000 miles on it).

The axle I am looking at is the exact same year/model/gear ratio but it is a 4x4 and I have a 4x2. I also see references to pinion damper and no pinion damper which appears to be related to auto vs manual tranny.

My question is, can I put a 4x4 axle directly into my 4x2 truck? If needed I could swap the pinion damper (or get it swapped) if the axle I am buying doesn't have one. In doing this swap would I have to be concerned about angles or would it be taken care of when using the old mounting hardware?

Thanks!

XLR8R

Brian, does your current AAM have Trac-Rite?
How about the 4x4 axle you want to buy?
What year is your truck? (2003 had 10.5" AAM)
Shock-mount brackets are welded to the axle tubes at different angles for 4x2 & 4x4.
Have you checked the differential fluid?

OOPS

Never looked at a 2-wheel drive but are the 2-wheel drive spring under while the 4-wheel is spring over?

XLR8R

LD is spring-under.