Hannibal

Not to be outdone by the vibration at 65mph and above, my truck has some gear whine that started around 58-62mph. It's quite loud towing our 5th wheel and easily tolerable running empty. On our last 2,000 mile trip with the 5th wheel, it's gotten worse and now whines along with the vibration at 68-70mph. I can slide under the truck and twist the driveshaft back and forth and get a healthy clunk each way in the differential. There is no wear pattern on the gear teeth. They're smooth all the way across the surface. I'm thinking this isn't normal and I might be looking at a new ring and pinion before long. I hate to think they're worn out in 44k miles but we do tow heavy and against the wind every chance we get with 75w-90 in the rear. Anyone else have gear whine?
If I have to replace the ring and pinion, I'll probably go with a 3.73 ratio set. That would put the vibration starting at 72mph (theoretically) and I could live with that. It would reduce torque multiplication by 10% but I could downshift at a higher speed to make up for that when I need to.
The slip joint in the two piece driveshaft has a little rotational play in it too. I would think it should be none. I don't know...

GregMc

I had the ring and pinion replaced at 21K. It whined at 40-50mph since new. Was pretty quiet for a while but it is starting to make noise again but most of the noise now is when you lift off the go pedal. I suspect the backlash is off a little, planning on taking it back in a few weeks.

Casey Balvert

I had my gears replace around 15K. So far it is still quiet but I have not put that many miles on it. I also switched the oil to Redline 75W140 because I tow heavy and the tech agreed with my recommendation. Time will tell. One reason for buying the extended warrantee.

Casey

converteddzlr

Mine just started whining about a month ago and I figured it would go away when I changed out the gear oil but it's still there. I have almost 28,000 klicks on the truck and it only does for the first couple of kilometers then quiets right up. Gears all seemed to be wearing evenly so

Mr. Jimmy

I had the R&P replaced in mine at 2000 miles due to gear whine, only the noise moved to a different speed. After requesting a meeting with the area rep, the rear axle was replaced. I am at 24,000 miles now and gears are starting to whine again, along with a leaking power steering gear box that dealer says isn't leaking, claims fluid must have been spilled on it! Well I wouldn't find the need to add, if it wasn't leaking! So it looks like I'll be meeting with the area rep once again due to an incompetent service manager. I wonder if these guy's are trained to say....Problem could not be duplicated?