i think my rear end blew up

had a little whine in the rear of the avalanche for the last 10k miles. it would go away coasting and come back under load, and was speed related.

this morning i was heading to work and started getting a crunching that would do the same, go away coasting and happen under load. i decided this was bad and headed home. a mile away i couldn't go 15mph so i pulled into a side street and stopped. truck wouldn't move. blocked a wheel, put it in drive, horrible racket. got out, the rear wheels were shaking violently and the driveshaft is spinning but truck sitting still. gimped it home at 10mph in 4hi using the fronts to pull me along. i tried to drop my spare to pull the cover but the stupid hanger drops it a few inches, then the tire stops but the cable keeps coming. not sure what's up there, i hate spares under the truck on cables.

i fear the worst, being either everything new except the housing and axles, or buying a complete used assembly and swapping it in. my trans/diff guy is out of the office until tomorrow so i can't get a quote, but there is a low mile rebuilt matching unit on ebay for $750 from a gm truck dismantler. a new diff, gears, and bearing kit would cost that, so if the labor is close to the freight cost i may just tow it in and let the shop take care of it. it's too damn cold to be laying under a truck in the snow.

Yep, crunched up a pinion gear probably.....I think GM intentionally makes those out of the softest E36 M3ty metal they can find. Both of my s10's were on their 3rd rear end when I sold them.

I had that happen in my Cobra - twice. I had the same symptoms and had the car towed to the dealership who tried to drive the car despite me telling them not to and locked the rear end up. The inside of the differential housing looked like grenade went off. After that I stopped doing high RPM clutch drops

I had to replace the diff center section, diff carrier assembly, ring and pinion and axle half shafts (IRS).

The spider gears may have broken a tooth and gotten jammed in there. You really don't know until you pop the cover off.

I hope it doesn't require a reman axle assembly! Good luck.

In reply to stranger_missle:

If the driveshaft is turning, but the wheels don't want to, and it makes a popping/grinding noise.....its the pinion gear, not the diff.

leaning toward this, $900 shipped. ugh.

rebuilt axle on ebay.

it checks all the boxes, 4.10 posi, whatever active brake control is that my truck also has, and being rebuilt already with 1k miles i would hope it's past the "oh crap it was put together wrong" period. i'm hesitant to pull the trigger until i talk to the shop that did my trans, but i assume he'll be in the $1500 range for parts and labor.

I thought this was going to be I ate too much chili story. I would go reman and be done with it.

car-part.com is listing one with 64k on it in Swanson,OH for $750

cdowd wrote: I thought this was going to be I ate too much chili story. I would go reman and be done with it.

I thought maybe he tried that new steak thing at taco bell

Wow, there's been some bad luck in your house lately! Sorry to hear that.

I'd lean towards good used rather than "rebuilt" by Bubba Joe Coonhound. If its rebuilt by a reputable company, that's likely fine.

What about local? Honestly, those rear ends should be like... free. My dad just did his in his 2004 gmc crew cab 4x4.

i agree with the not going with someone else's rebuild, i'm semi depressed and looking for any way out of this mess right now. if the roadmonster was not screwed up and it was not 3 degrees and i just laid out in the snowy driveway trying unsuccessfully to get the diff cover bolts off without freezing my hands to the ratchet and giving up because my ass was frozen inside coveralls, jeans, and thermals, i might not be as upset. my big block truck is awesome, it started right up, but i can't fit 2 kids in car seats in a regular cab. that's the entire reason for purchasing an avalanche. to have truck and kid hauler in one. it got to be a pain dropping kid off with car at grandma's then driving home to get truck and trailer to go work. if no kids, i'd still be rocking a plain white work van.

calling local guy tomorrow for a "i drop off truck and a couple days later i drive it home" price. honestly right now, if it's under $1800 i'll probably just do that. rock auto has reman for $1787 after freight and the 5% code. my time, sanity, and not freezing to death is worth at least $400. of course i just raided my stash to get the wife's 9-7x without a loan, so i'll have to credit card it even though i literally just paid off every speck of credit card debt we had with our tax return.

the entire reason i went so new with the truck was to avoid this kind of crap, but i've had better luck with the older 88-98 trucks. i love the thing to death, and it tows like a dream, but my head hurts.

called local guy 9am. told him what i wanted, he said he'd work up a quote, have not heard back yet.

do not want: factory style gov-lock, crappy gears, chinese bearings.

i can buy the eaton diff, motive gears, timken bearings, and shim/install kit for around $800 after tax.

have not touched the inside of a diff in years, but do have the setup tools and a press.

other option is h2 rear end. it bolts in with the exception of needing to move the shock mounts. 9.5" 14 bolt. downfall is 8 lug, i'd have to get adapters up front then eventually switch to 3/4 ton spindles and hubs.

just went on a mini spending spree. hooray for paypal credit and 0% for 12 months.

ordered:

hummer h2 14 bolt rear axle with 4.10 gear to match my truck(think all h2 are 4.10)

usa made front wheel adapters to make it 8 lug like the new rear until i need to rebuild some front stuff, then i'll adapt 3/4 ton parts.

17x8.5 8 lug wheels because apparently 16's don't clear h2 rear brakes

4 new hankook dynapro tires

going to go to town on the garage thursday, pull the wrx apart and shove it outside, and get the truck inside to get the old rear out before the new one comes.

i've verified all that needs done to install the hummer axle is cut off the lower shock mounts and move them, everything else bolts up. the axle hub to hub is 4" wider than stock.

i figured i do enough towing to need more beef in the axle department, and i've towed 8k a few times.

i gather i can recoup some $ by selling my nice clean stock 17's and tires and maybe part out the broken rear end to the good stuff and sell the disc brakes to someone looking to convert an older truck. either way, it's a pain in the wallet. however, i have a feeling the rebuild on the 10 bolt will cost close to what i've spent and i get new tires. heck i only dropped a tad more than buying a questionable reman from rock auto. will never buy a reman large $ item again after a bad experience with warranty problems.

Dang.....

The gov-lock does suck but I've seen them go 10's in the 1/4....

What Av parts?

nepa03focus wrote:

cdowd wrote: I thought this was going to be I ate too much chili story. I would go reman and be done with it.

I thought maybe he tried that new steak thing at taco bell

Is it bad my 5 month old can clear a room like he has a steady diet of Taco Bell?

In reply to rebelgtp:

Only if you're the one changing the diaper!

Streetwiseguy wrote: I'd lean towards good used rather than "rebuilt" by Bubba Joe Coonhound. If its rebuilt by a reputable company, that's likely fine.

Knock Bubba Joe all you want but his grandpappy makes better shine than any of them city boys.

I have had questionable luck with a couple of reman items off of Ebay (starter and alternator) so I would have a hard time buying a more expensive unit with confidence.

rebelgtp wrote:

nepa03focus wrote:

cdowd wrote: I thought this was going to be I ate too much chili story. I would go reman and be done with it.

I thought maybe he tried that new steak thing at taco bell

Is it bad my 5 month old can clear a room like he has a steady diet of Taco Bell?

Is it bad that my cat can?

(gotta get catfood without all those grains!)