3:73's: My 2 cents worth

[kmauldin]

What was the sound that your rearend was making?!?

Hard to explain really. It was sort of a mild grinding/hissing sound coming from behind the back seat. It was NOT a whinning sound like a ring gear that wasn't shimmed properly. It was loudest at around 35 mph. It has always made this noise since I bought it and just thought it was normal. But a few months ago I noticed it was getting louder. My mechanic said some of the bearings were going bad and were probably "shaving" metal off of the axle; metal was getting in the gear oil causing more damage to the bearrings, and on and on. When he drove the car he could tell by swerving the car side to side which side the bum bearings were on. In my case, he suspected the passenger side axle bearing and possiblly the passenger side carrier bearing due to the fact that when he swerved to the right, the car's weight was transfered to the left and off of the right (passenger) side bearings. Made sense to me.