took the first trip in my "new to me" 2003 2wheel drive 6speed
I love the truck
it tow's amazingly well

I noticed a rear end clunk when lifting clutching or taking the truck out of gear and then reapplying throttle. Its when getting back onto load there is a clunk sound.

would this be a clunk in the rear end or the Ujoints?
I flushed the rear end with royal purple before the drive

how do I inspect the rear end for wear or inspect the U-joints for possible need of replacement?

thanks in advance everyone. This is one of the best auto BBS I've ever run across!
brant

 

To kind of check the read diff you can jack it up (use stands of course) and with the trans in neutral, twist or rock the driveshaft back and forth. You should have very little slop. By slop I mean when you turn the DS the rear wheels should turn with it, no delay.
For U-joints the easiest way is to hold the DS in one hand and the yoke at the diff (or tranny side) and kind of do the same twisting motion. There should be zero play.

 

Thanks a ton
I'll check them both!

 

A clunk is frrequently slack in the rear end itself. A clank is usually a u-joint. Its a subtle difference and not always exact but a starting point.

 

assuming the worse
what all is it going to take to fix a worn or loose rear end?

 

About $1600 for a ring, pinion, carrier rebuild. More if the wheel bearings are bad. Thats at a decent shop.


If needed, there are more of these axles showing in slavage yards. I can normally find one with 60-80k for half of the rebuild cost.

 

2003s were famous for the whiny rear ends and mine was putting equal to 200,000 miles wear on the R&P every 15,000 miles. Dodge replaced my R&P 3 times in 50,000miles- then I sold it before finding out about the LemonLaw in Canada- coulda got my money back. Problem was for that year only.

 

oh crud
thats not good news.

I wonder what they changed from 03 to the newer years and if I could put 04 parts into it....

or perhaps it was a bad batch? not likely if you had 3 of them...

brant

 

early 03 have a small rear diff(think its 10.5 vs 11.5 in the newer trucks)

my 03 has the smaller diff and I have almost 300,000 on it, no problems yet

 

My '03 has the 11.5" and has had a very definite clunk as the OP stated and has had it for a number of years. Has right at 300k on it now and I've had to learn how to just ease in and out of the throttle to avoid it. Once you know what we're experiencing it will really open your eyes . It feels like something could blow apart at any second.

 

I wonder when in production they changed to the 11.5 diff
I just got my build sheet from dodge and it looks like I do have a 11.5 inch diff (maybe the 04's were even bigger?) I know mine is a very late 03


sounds like I can live with it for a while
too bad there is nothing I can shim or do to adjust

sounds like they are very very expensive too
darn

brant

 

Only the early 03 SO's, like 2 or 3 months, had the 10.5 diff. Any HO and most of the SO's after Oct-Nov 02 had gone to the 11.5 which is standard all the way to current models in the rear.

Some of the early production runs of the AAM axles has some issues with castings being off. If the diff housing is not squared correctly the R&P is off from the carrier and they will never hold. That can happen with the 11.5 also. QA was not up to speed in the beginning.

Even some of the setups from the factory were not that great. Even though they may have been in spec, it wasn't tight enough to eliminate noise with the TQ the ISB creates.

 

mine was doing it too but i replaced the rear ujoint and problem was solved

 

Was there any metal in the oil that you drained out or on the fill plug? The only accurate was to check it is to use a dial indicator on the ring gear. If you don't have any metal in the oil or on the plug you are fine. A rear end will shed a small amount of metal but if it is more than a fine coating on the magnetic plug then you have problems.

 

I would check your U-joints. I had one or more go out about every 30,000 miles. I have had the center bearing replaced twice now. Let us not also forget to check the U-joints and Axle U-joints in the front axles and drive line.

The differential is adjustable, so using a dial indicator and checking lash would bring it back into adjustment. Usually there is whine for slack or gear noise. Unless you have a really bad ring gear with broken teeth.

Shawn