Rear axle or bearing lateral movement and noise.

[Moparboy]

Hello everyone!

I am a newbie to this forum so please bear with me. We have a 2007 sport with the Rocky Mountain package. I have been noticing a noise lately that almost sounds like a bad wheel bearing. Today I jacked up all 4 tires to inspect for movement. The front tires were good and solid/tight. The rears however were not. I could move both tires in and out about 1/2mm to 1mm with a noticeable noise.
Has anyone else had this problem or does anyone have any ideas? I am not sure if both wheel bearings are shot or if there is something wrong inside the rear diff.
Thanks for any help!!

 

[tjkj2002]

Since the 8.25 is a C-clip axle you will have some lateral movement due to the slop in the C-clip and axle groove it goes in.I'd say up to about 1/2mm of lateral movement is okay but not much more then that.You could have worn axles,C-clips,carrier center pin,or worn side gears.No way of telling without tearing it apart and using a feeler guage.Might be best left to a good diff shop.

 

[LibertyTC]

X2 as above. inspection time.
Open Carrier's tend to have some slop. How many miles on your KJ?
Keep in mind that the diffs do get quite hot, and frequent Lube changes really help in wear department. The recommended GL5 Lube change interval is every 12-15k miles.
I have been using the heavier gear lube (Lucas 85-140) now with good results.
http://www.lucasoil.ca/products/gear-oil.asp
You could also upgrade to a limited slip (Detroit True Trac) talk to a diff re builder and have the cover removed and it all inspected.

 

[Moparboy]

Our Jeep has over 40K miles on it. I will try changing the gear oil to see if that helps.

Thanks guys!