2006 Nissan Frontier pickup SE 2wd 30k miles. Had entire rear axle replaced under warranty because of leaks around diff bolts and whining sound in 1st thru 3rd gears. Well, new axle doesn’t leak but I can still hear whining from 1st to 3rd gears. I have to travel from Pensacola, Fl to Atlanta soon. Will this new Dana 44 rear axle hold up??? I will be taking my dog and AAA probably won’t do me any good with a dog. Thanks.
I remember your earlier posts, Hello
What I would do is another diff. service, to get a look at anything obvious, and to get a smell of the fluid. Is there a cover that comes off?
I know I have used Dana 44’s off road in extreme conditions without failure, they certainly not considered weak.
Is this truck a stick shift? If it is, it sounds more like a gearbox layshaft bearing than the diff. The diff would whine in all gears. The layshaft is only under load in gears 1 - 3.
Scudder,
Thanks for the reply and everyone’s replies. This is a 6 spd manual trans. The reason I think it is the differential is because the ‘whining sound’ comes from the back end of the truck. What is the layshaft??? That is interesting because while cruising in 4th to 6th, I get no noise!! If going thru the neighborhood in 3rd or 2nd, I get that dreaded whine. As soon as I let off the gas, the whine goes away.
oldschool, The cover does come off with about 10 bolts. It’s not leaking like my old diff. did. Maybe I should have some synthetic gear oil put in??
Depends on the application. My Bronco (full-sized) has an IFS Dana 44 up front. On a jeep it’s fine because the Jeep doesn’t weigh much. In full sized apps, it’s no great shakes. If I were to to some serious rock crawling or go to Moab or the Rubicon trail. I’d swap in a straight Dana 60 and full floater Sterling 10.25 inch rear axle.