Weird Drivetrain Whine
 

OK I'm kinda confused on a noise that just showed itself in my truck. Here's the back story:

Went up to the camp about 3 weeks ago. The weekend was wet and I had a nice 3 mile jaunt down a slippery and extremely muddy road to the parking area. Coming out I was really working the old girl and she did great, especially for a 2wd with all terrains. This little exercise slung a lot of mud all under the truck.

Got home and the truck basically sat until yesterday since it was also serving as my work bench for my Big Red that had problems of its own. So, when I got the 3-wheeler fixed I thought it would be good to take the Dodge for a ride to the pressure washer to clean it up a bit. On my drive I noticed a whine coming from teh drivetrain somwehere.

The sound is not the brakes from what I can tell...applying the brakes and the truck slowing causes the sound to decreases in rhythm. The noise is speed dependent, but is not dependent on whether the trannie is in gear or rolling in neutral. The wife went to church in it this morning and said that she didn't hear the noise until she turned back in to our street. The sound is sorta high pitched, and almost reminds me of rubber squeaking on rubber.

So all that leaves me to think that the problem is the rear end. Unfortunately, I just had the thing rebuilt by a shop in the town where I used to live. Has anyone had a similar noise and/or any suggestions on where to start my search?

Rearend troubles usually change with throttle. This sounds more like bearing or tire noise to me.

Kinda what I thought. It doesn't sound metallic to me at all. I wonder if maybe it's the center carrier bearing on the drive shaft, or one of the axle bearings near the hub.

U joint or carrier bearing maybe check carrier bearing for exsessive heat after drive

Well I'm 95% certain it's the carrier bearing. Had the wife drive the truck with me in the back and the noise seems to be coming from right at the cab-bed intersection. Crawled under the truck and there was a thin piece of metal poking out of the rubber part. When I pushed on the drive shaft, I got about 1/2" of movement, which seems like a lot more than what I remembered from my '00 3500. If that ain't it then it's going to have to be the transmission. It's definitely not the rear axle.

Sooo...looks like the truck will get to stay parked for the next few months while I get the wife's truck fixed and save up enough money to get a new bearing installed.

If the bearing siezed up the rubber bushing around it could be spinning in the bracket or the bearing and race could be spinning inside the rubber. I just replaced mine a few months ago and it wasnt very expensive but i had to use my press to remove the old one and install the new one.

I had the wife drive while I crawled along and looked under the truck. It looked like the bearing and race were spinning inside the rubber, which would explain the rubber squeal.

Since I don't have a press I'm going to have to take it to a shop and have it done.

Do u have a welder

Negative.