Actor Troy McClure wrote:
>
> Hi:
>
> My co-worker who owns the '92 Dakota with the whining rear end is really having
> problems getting his truck repaired. Last time on "As the Pinion Turns", my
> coworker (Doak) had taken his truck to a "truck shop" to have them repair the
> whining that the Dodge dealership could not fixed. The truck shop said the r&p
> gear were not aligned correctly (after some recent u-joint work at the Dodge
> dealership). This agreed with the diagnosis that Kukukooter had mailed to me.
>
> The solution seemed pretty simple: order the correct shim kit and have the
> truck shop adjust the gears using the correct shims. But here's the bad part:
> The truck shop can't find the correct shims. They checked with the Dodge
> dealership and the Dodge dealership can't find them either. When the Dodge
> service boys try to look up the shim kit for the '92 Dakota with 8 1/4" inch
> pumpkin, they come up with this part number: 3723530. Doak found out that this
> part number is *not correct*.
>
Replacing or changing the shims after some amount of wear will change
the mating surface of the gears, and usually causes a whine. I don't
know why the dealer may have messed with the shims, unless they came
loose while beating the U-Joints out. Even putting in new shims will
probably leave you with a whine. If they inspected the gears and found
no other problems, the whine is usually not going to do more than cause
faster wear. I don't know how many miles the truck has, but likely a
new ring & pinion are going to be the only way to fix it.
A lot of times when people work on a rear-end, they'll see the
tolerances out from the recommended, and re-shim back to the spec. This
is a big no-no. The spec. is only for initial set-up. After many
miles, the gap will be out of spec., but since ring & pinion have worn
together, everything is fine. (there is a point where the gears need to
be replaced, of course) If gears are dissassembled, they should be put
back exactly as they came out, not to original spec. Otherwise you'll
get a nasty whine, and eat what's left of the gears much quicker. This
is true for almost any gear assembly, not just car rear ends.
If your buddy is sure the noise is not from bearings in the axle, and
the spider gears are OK, he should be OK if he can stand the noise.
He'll just need to have the differential checked a little more often
now. Watch the diff. fluid for excessive metal shavings.
I'm not an expert, but this is from my experience.
-Chris
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