HappyGA

Well, I done a little work this weekend. But I have had this problem for a few weeks now. I had a rear diff pinion seal leaking. I took the driveshaft off, and thought I would find my vibration problems there in a U-joint, hoping I could kill two birds with one stone. So I check the U-joints, and no luck, if one of them is bad, I can not tell it by looking at the caps, or by trying to move the transfer case U-joint by hand in odd directions. So I go ahead and take the yoke off to replace the seal. I notice a pretty fair amount of wear on the yoke's neck. But with all parts houses closed now, I can not get a sleave to go on the yoke, and I had to have my truck running for my trip back to my new home state of Alabama. 400 miles. I also tightened the yoke back up and checked for any indication of loseness in the pinion bearing, which there was none.

SO I decide to pull over half wy through the trip and check things out.

#1 rear seal is leaking again. Yippee, I get to do it all over next weekend to fix it right this time.

#2, vibration is still there. I am going to replace both U-joints this weekend to see if that takes care of it.

#3, Exactly how hot is the rear diff fluid going to run on one of these trucks? The pumpkin case was pretty hot to the touch while I was under there. SO I thought I would feel around in the areas around the bearings to see if there was any friction there causing heat. Axle bearing at the end of the tubes were cool to the touch, carrier bearing area was warm, but did not alarm me at all, pinion bearing was pretty hot. Not scalding hot, but hot to the touch, like dang that was hot. I am thinking of pulling the carrier out this weekend and looking everything over. I hate to lose that Synthetic fluid I put in though. kinda costly...

Two more questions..

Is 75w-90 valvoline synthetic gear oil okay for a truck that does not see much towing, only riding as my primary vehicle?

Vibration is only at 65+, what do you think it could be???