Front Differential "whine"
 

Ok, hopefully a simple question for you guys, but I am getting really worried that this is going to turn out bad for me...

I had my tranny rebuilt a few months ago. When I finally got the car back, I noticed a very distinct gear whine that was perfectly linear to the speed of the car, and never changed pitch with gear change, so I immediately concluded it was something with the differential in the tranny. Over time though, it has gotten much louder and noticably worse. This last weekend, I changed the diff fluid, and let me tell you, there was enough metal gook on the magnetic drain plug to make a smal snowman. Any idea why this would happen? I imagine that the diff can't be easy to mess up seeing that it can only really fit in one way.

Also, anyone ever have to change one of these? does it requre the whole tranny being pulled out, or can it be done through the bottom?

Anyone who can help, please!

Re: Front Differential "whine"
 

If it was the front diff, the whine would vary with on and off throttle. It may be the transfer gears, that drive the front pinion shaft, that may have been mismatched when it was rebuilt. These are marked for correct meashing, and do whine if not meshed correctly.
Harvey.

It could be a bearing in the diff has gone south, sometimes you just can't see pending problems in a bearing. Then again differentials do require precise measurements and alignment. You don't just 'slap' one together. Too much preload and *poof* there goes a bearing or two.

It could also be that they replaced some/all the bearings in the diff and not the ring and pinion gears. It's almost impossible to set the gears back into their prior wear paths and noise/whine would be inevitable, it's just a matter of how much.

No matter what's happened, I personally would consider the diff under the same warranty as the transmission. Read your warranty carefully.

Good Luck,

Beav