whining from rear end?

[ferro]

hello everyone.

i have a 2001 6-speed WS6.

recently i had work done and upgraded my stock rear end to 3.73.
this was done while i was trying to get rid of a howling/whining sound from my rear end...

Visit 1 to tranny shop:
went in because the sound was happening with all my gears.
found out that it was because the driveshaft had some wiggle room at the point where it connected at the differential, so that was tightened up.
i swapped out my stock gear set for 3.73 while i was at it.

Leaving the tranny shop:
the sound disappeared EXCEPT when i drove between 60-70 mph on the highway on 5th and 6th gear....
its really wierd. none of the gears make any noise except those two (5th and 6th) at exactly that range of speed.
i go above 70, sound disappears
and anything below 60, no annoying sound whatsoever....

went back to the tranny shop and the owner was as confused as i was.

any ideas?
hopefully someone experienced this and solved this problem....

thanks in advance!

[72chevelleOhio]

So it was happening before the gearset, you replaced the gears and still had the same whine?
Did you add something to the car and this start happening, or did the whine get progressively worse?

For example, a friend worked for a GM dealer and an S-10 came in with a noise from the rear end. They rebuilt the rear end 3 times and swung 2 new ones in before removing the truck cap the guy put on. Noise went away after that. I think the cap was too heavy for the little truck (one of the big fiberglass ones with 400 lights on it lol) it made the pinion angle change just enough to make noise, and nobody compensated for the weight when they done the alignments. But that was a long time ago, and I made fun of him for all that work before I got to hear the total fix for the problem...

[ferro]

the car is stock except for the gearset and the loudmouth catback.
about 2 years ago, the whining just popped up out of nowhere,
and ever since then, the sound never got better or worse.
just stayed the same.

i had the whining before the gearset.
we found out that the whining was mostly
because the driveshaft was a little loose.
there used to be whining at all six gears before, but now thats gone.

there is only whining in 5th and 6th gears between 60-70 mph.
anything slower than 60 mph or faster than 70 mph is fine.

its reaaaaallly annoying the crap outta me.

help please!

thanks.

[72chevelleOhio]

Weird. Its got to be something off the wall then...
My dad had a truck back in the 80's he had drilled an extra hole in the muffler to let the moisture drain out. (To try to make it last longer. Yeah, he's......"thrifty" lol)
Afterwards, the truck had a noise to it at around 35 up to 40 mph while accelerating. I thought it was the transmission. He thought it was the rear end. I think he plugged the hole just to check and it stopped. He wound up living with it...Did I mention cheap, I mean thrifty?

[ferro]

damn....

[skibum1111]

When you changed the gearset, did you change the pinion bearings? I had a similar whine in my xterra, turned out to be the front pinion bearing, which failed due to a bad seal.

[2.2 Straight six]

I think your only option is to buy a Ford.

Seriously.

[stieh2000]

Or at leat get a Ford differential now before you start adding more power and eventually but surely break your stock 10-bolt.

[72chevelleOhio]

Originally Posted by 2.2 Straight six

I think your only option is to buy a Ford.

*double checks forum section*

NO SWEARING!

Originally Posted by skibum1111

did you change the pinion bearings?

Yep, I was taking it for granted the job was done right, thats a good question....

[ferro]

yeah, the pinions and all were replaced....

this sucks.

maybe i should try taking it to another shop
and get it checked out?