Jeep Cherokee Roaring Drone Noise

[DoubleWasp]

Why swap the axle? Fix the one you have. Next axle might also be ready to go. When my Caprice roasted its rear end, I got another one with limited slip, with full intentions of rebuilding it and then swapping it in. Guess what? Axles were badly scored on the driver's side. Already had a pair of new Mosers ready to go in though, so it was fine.

Rebuild your axle and you have a good axle. Go with another axle, and who knows what you get.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

Axle swap is significantly cheaper - especially if having a shop do it.

It's a dana 35, though. If the Jeep is an automatic (they came with 3.55 gears), you can't walk into a junkyard without tripping over a Chrysler 8.25'' axle (better) with matching brakes.

I could have spent $600 having my front diff rebuilt when it failed. Instead, I went to a junkyard and got a new front axle for $85 (sold shafts for $40 - net to me was $45), installed new ball joints for $120 and had a better axle (went from low pinion to high pinion 30) for < $200. 1/3 of the cost is pretty good to me!

 

[meep]

sometimes cheaper replacement axle bearings can roll just fine but make a bunch of noise. I bought one in that condition. thicker fluid didn't help and I couldn't feel any vibration--- it just made a ton of noise.

the bass noise definitely sounds like carrier bearings, loose/unbalanced driveshaft. that's about the right frequency for a driveshaft. if work was done previously and the balance was muffed, it would cause this. THAT might be the first thing to look at, before investing in anything else. if you swap axles, you'll still have to deal with this.

Limited slip is a nice feature. if you swap axles, consider making sure you retain this.

I have found that gear oil that has limited slip additive, usually doesn't have enough and I add 1/2 dose more.

 

[meep]

sometimes cheaper replacement axle bearings can roll just fine but make a bunch of noise. I bought one in that condition. thicker fluid didn't help and I couldn't feel any vibration--- it just made a ton of noise.

the bass noise definitely sounds like carrier bearings, loose/unbalanced driveshaft. that's about the right frequency for a driveshaft. if work was done previously and the balance was muffed, it would cause this. THAT might be the first thing to look at, before investing in anything else. if you swap axles, you'll still have to deal with this.

Limited slip is a nice feature. if you swap axles, consider making sure you retain this.

I have found that gear oil that has limited slip additive, usually doesn't have enough and I add 1/2 dose more.

 

[Nick1994]

Well my brother has an extra Dana 35 rear axle laying around. All we'll have to do is put it on Jack stands and unbolt the u bolts, brake lines, driveshaft, and shocks and roll the axle out and put the other one in. We've done it to his jeep a couple times. All this axle will need is a brake kit. It sucks it's not a limited slip but we might get the old one rebuilt at some point while the other axle is in temporarily.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

Originally Posted By: Nick1994
Well my brother has an extra Dana 35 rear axle laying around. All we'll have to do is put it on Jack stands and unbolt the u bolts, brake lines, driveshaft, and shocks and roll the axle out and put the other one in. We've done it to his jeep a couple times. All this axle will need is a brake kit. It sucks it's not a limited slip but we might get the old one rebuilt at some point while the other axle is in temporarily.


If you go that route - you may be able to just swap the carriers out to regain limited slip capability in the replacement axle.

 

[meep]

^^^truth.^^^ C-clip axles shouldnt be much more hassle to work with, with the brake hardware already off the replacement.

 

[Nick1994]

Well I pulled the axle out and took it to a differential shop. It has at least one bad bearing, bad enough to ruin an axle shaft and also the clutches are bad for the locking differential, and there was something else that I don't remember. They wanted $640 to fix it all which I don't think is too bad but at that price we'll just use my brother's spare axle.

Thanks for the help guys.

 

[meep]

thats a very attractive price, especially to retain the limited slip. good uck with whatever you choose.

 

[Nick1994]

Yeah it is a good price but it's still a Dana 35 which is a huge weak point if you want to go with bigger tires. Would be a lot cheaper to buy a Dana 44 or something else stronger that already doesn't have issues.