Fishinghaoliboy

Well now I have been driving my 96 2500 for about 5 years with no problems and the other day returning home it started making a slipping noise in the driveline like u-joint slack but we were not doing anything more than driving down the road at a constant speed. I had been thinking the clutch was going bad and maybe it was the cause of the noise as it squeaks a little when you engage it but does not slip pulling my boat up the boat ramp. Anyway stopped and looked under and saw oil on the inside of the left rear wheel indicating an axel seal leak. Got home and checked the diff and found it a quart low on lube. Replaced that this am and made some turns around the yard left and right and it is now jumping or slipping even more. Has my rear end or maybe the clutches or gears started to go out. When making figure eight turns it does not make any noise but if I give it a little throttle it snaps and pops. Is that from a possible posi rear end and can I drive it to the shop?

Dartmouth 12V

Do you know if you have a limited slip rear or not?

I would start by taking a little bit of oil out of the diff and putting it on a white background with good lighting and carefully look for a lot of metal shavings. Also look at the magnetic plug and see what you see on that.

If you have a posi, you could well just be experiencing the clutches in it grabbing. If you have an open rear and the binding is coming from the rear, then you are likely to have slightly larger problems.

If you turn in a circle but with the truck in neutral and you don't have major problems, I would think that you should be safe to drive it to wherever you are going to pop the cover. You can never be sure and some people would say that you shouldn't drive it at all and others will say don't worry about it so it is your call in terms of your comfort level.

dozer12216

From your description, suspect the trackloc is fussing about lack of additive.
Before going futher should completelly change diff lube and install at least one bottle of sure-grip additive. The service manual calls for two. Do some mild figure 8's. Drive a couple days. If the noise goes away, fine. If not, put the other bottle of additive. In this situation, gear lube with additive in does not count under your circumstance.
If noise presists you are looking at rebuild or replace of diff assy.

Fishinghaoliboy

Well tried the lube and additives since I had already added gear lube just added the modifier and did some figure eights and it did more snapping and then less noise and then pulled down to my shop and now it will not back up. Sounds like you can hear teeth rubbing but not taking hold. I guess I need a new rear end. Thanks for the help. Not sure but maybe the spider gears have gone. Made more noise turning to right than left.