Loud Diff BA Ute

Just before my service I noticed that my ute was making some strangle noises when just cursing along.
Its kind of hard to describe the noise, but it sounds like some sort of slight grinding.
Now I took it to Ford for its 75k service and they said that there was a noise (duh) and that it would most likely need a brand new diff, a path that I would like to avoid.
Now what could it be, can someone shed some light on how these rear ends work? Will it need some oil or grease? I know that Ford should have picked up if it needed oil but I wouldn't put it past them to not do it. What should/could I do about it, not only to fix it but from stopping it from getting worse? Not driving it is out of the question because its my work car.
Any help would be great thanks!
Todd

I don't if the the ute is the same set up as a sedan in regarding the diff but If it is the diff bushes could be worn 3 of them, an would need replacing, I don't know about needing a new diff that sounds abit extreme.

I have actually just solved a similar problem with mine, and I thought it was the bushes, turns out its my aftermarket exhaust rattling around, try giving the tail pipe a shake.

I had this confirmed today by taking my car to pedders today for a full suspension check/report only $14.

Have also read threads on people curing diff noises by just changing the diff oil, do you know if it's been changed?

Um I'm not sure about the rear end of these cars. Its definitely not the exhaust because when I put the car in neutral and let it roll it gets louder and when the car is under load it is not so bad. I might have to give the oil a check over, and will check over again what was done at the service, will be pretty pissed off if they didn't change the oils at the service!

Good luck, check the CV's too

Being a ute it will be live axle, Todd i would be going with fresh oil and lsd additive and checking how that goes. It could also be a wheel bearing?

Thanks for that Tim, if we have time today I might get you to come for a drive in it and see if you have heard the noise before if thats ok? I will definitely go with fresh oil though. How do I check if its done a wheel bearing?

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Originally Posted by ToCo

Thanks for that Tim, if we have time today I might get you to come for a drive in it and see if you have heard the noise before if thats ok? I will definitely go with fresh oil though. How do I check if its done a wheel bearing?

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I'd go with Wheel Bearing in the first instance too. I change them in mine every time I fill up.....

On the assumption it is.....

Jack the rear up, grab opposite sides of your wheel and "wiggle it" firmly to detect a dying bearing. If it is rock solid, it's likely to be good. Movement = bad. Depending how bad it is, you'll be able to hear/feel it as you roll the wheel around too.

Check both sides and you may as well change them both at once seeing as you'll have the tools out and the car off the road for a bit. Order your bearings and if you have the tools you can have both axles out in under an hour. Assuming you don't have a press and don't feel like cooking up some bearings in your missus favourite frypan, you'll need to drop your axles and bearings off to someone to swap them over for you. You should expect a bill for at least an hour from most places.

If you're organised, you should only be off the road for a morning at most.

A bit more info on this, I went to the local mechanic and he put it up on the hoist, there was a lot of movement in my tailshaft, mainly around the centre bearing. He said that would most likely be the problem, so I ordered a new one, got it put in, but the problem is still there so I am now looking at a tailshaft problem. I'm getting pretty sick of it now, has been off the road for a bit, but every now and again I need to drive it for work.
As a stop gap I am thinking of buying a secondhand tailshaft and see if that fixes it. Because I am not paying Ford 2.7k for a bloody tailshaft! Any more advice would be great fellas, this has put me at the end of my tether and has me seriously considering selling the car as its giving me the shits big time.
Cheers.

One more thing, since I am looking at second hand tailshafts, is there any difference between the one in my ute and one out of an XR6? Or are they the same units?

Todd,

You'll be able to get a good second hand shaft for the ute for well under a grand if it's required, but I'm not sure that will be necessary.

You've dropped the diff oil and checked for metal?

You've checked / repacked / replaced the wheel bearings?

You've checked the universal joints in the tailshaft?

You've checked for bearing noise in the pinion / diff centre? Good way to do this is put it up on axel stands at the rear and put it in gear and listen for noise from the tray and next to the car, you should be able to narrow down the source of the whine.

Dont despair, it's only a diff noise.


It's a case of the old adage, YOU PLAY, YOU PAY. And you've done some playen, time to do some payen mate, just the way it is.

On the interchangeability between the 6 cyl and V8 utes, my guess is they Would be different as they use a different trans, maybe a T ute would be the go, but check with Ford, and then double check with FTG Autosalvage. They would be good for a tailshaft as well... Or Moonah Autosalvage, speak with Mozza, tell him Tex sent you his way....