Power Lock noise?

I swapped complete axle assemblies a while back. 3.73 open front and rear, for 4.88 front and rear with a power lock in the back. 30 spline rear flanged axle. Haven't driven on them much since the swap. Never opened them up or anything. Just swapped them around. So, I've been driving JEEP some over the last 2 weeks or so. Backing into the driveway or other rather tight turns, forward or reverse, I am hearing a sort of grinding, maybe ratcheting noise from the back of the JEEP. I know this is common on full time lockers but, I don't think it should happen with a P-lock. Any thoughts?

Not really under acceleration so much. Just let the clutch out and idle back into the driveway, etc.

If i grab the roll cage and vigorously rock the JEEP side to side, I hear a knock like an axle shaft rocking around or loose(?) brake drum (if that's even possible) or something.

I'm probably gonna have these axles gone over before too long anyway. Or should I stop immediately and park it?

 

The noise you describe seems to suggest something serious.
This certainly is not a normal Powr Lok trait that you described.
Hopefully it's something simple and not too difficult to repair like severely gouged friction disks.
But if any gear teeth are breaking off then things can go really bad in a hurry.
Personally I would not choose to risk it.
Something certainly needs attention.

 

I have no experience but my own with a Power-Lok. No noise at all. Nothing to make you know it is there at all until you need both tires spinning.

 

Dave, i'm no expert on PowrLoks, but it shouldn't make the noise you are describing. The side to side knocking could be the thrust buttons missing or broken. These go in the center of the diff down past the axle spline, one on each side, and control end float. The end of each axle shaft butts into these. Sometimes when the axle shaft is pulled out, these "follow" the axle due to the oil film on the perfectly mated surface, and fall out of place. They usually end up in the axle tube, but can fall into the bottom of the housing and get caught up in the gears.
This could explain the side to side knocking. Did you pull either axle shaft out?
-Donny

 

Grrrrr. I need to investigate further. I do have another flanged 4.88 rear on the pile. Was gonna take the Power Lock out of the one I'm running and swap it into the other one. not sure why I was thinking that way. Was hoping to wait a bit before having another set of axles put together for me. Gonna do the 11 inch brake swap while I'm at it. Hmmm.

 

In my 59 cj5 I could hear a knock when rocking side to side holding the roll bar and recently pulled the rear dana 44 out and took it apart and the only problem I saw was a broken axle spacer. like this one on ebay http://www.ebay.com/itm/REAR-DIFFER...LYS-/110682773831?hash=item19c5351947&vxp=mtr if this is what is causing your noise you should be able to inspect for it by just removing the diff cover and looking in

I didn't end up re using that axle since I already had a different rebuilt one ready to go in. and the new one doesn't have the knocking noise,

 

if you can put a transmission back together you can set up gears....

Is it your axle shaft bearings and or race?. jack it up and try to move the tire up and down. I would start there.

 

Hmmph. I don't know about that. Need more special tools and set up bearings and more patience than I have.

Not sure yet. Gonna jack it up and look a little closer tomorrow or Saturday.

The list is getting longer,.....of things I want and need to do to this thing. Starting to think about a major tear down. Pull the axles out from under it, trans and t-case.

 

The flanged one piece axles do not use the spacer buttons inside the power lok.
They are only used when setting tapered axle shaft bearing end play, as the tapered axle shaft has to have something to butt up against to set the correct end play
thru the use of axle shims.
They are not needed with flanged axles; no end play to set or adjust; no tapered axle bearing.
Something else is happening here.
At the very least, remove the differential cover and have a peek.

 

As soon as I feel up to dragging the jack to the JEEP, I'm gonna have a look at the bearings and then, probably pull the cover off and nose around. Hoping it's just the bearing(s). Might be Sat or Sunday before I'm up to it.

 

I'll go out on a limb ...
Besides this limb looks about as good as any ...
I think maybe its the carrier bearings.

 

jacked 'er up this afternoon and found the following:

right side: maybe some slight up and down movement at the wheel/tire.....maybe. but most definite in and out movement.

left side: no up and down movement but, again, definite in and out movement.

Your thoughts, knowledge and advice are, as always, most welcome and appreciated.

 

in and out seems normal to me

 

If the wheel and hub flange assembly is moving inward and out from the axle tube; then you have excessive axle shaft end float.
There should be virtually none.

The simplest remedy would be that the rear axle retaining bolts are loose.
Look inside of the drum behind the hub flange to see if the 6 bolts per side are tight.

If those are tight then the end play must be coming from the area of the wheel bearing.
Seems to me that the bearing itself would show signs of up down motion if the bearing itself was faulty.
It uses a unit bearing and the bearing retaining collar could be damaged or missing.

Lastly the end bore of the housing axle tube could possibly be bad.

The Powr Lok carrier should have no effect the axle shaft end float

 

This sounds like good news, mostly and makes sense. I was thinking about the bearings and thought that, as you state, if they were bad, the wheel and axle shaft should show up and down movement as well, if it's moving in and out also.

The bearings are all one piece then? Not a bearing and then separate race installed in the axle tube? Again, this is a flanged 30 spline 44.

I thought some in and out movement was common on c-clip type axles but, not so much on the old 44's.

I'll pull the wheels this week and look around the bearings. I'm not getting any noise as I drive down the road so, I'm thinking that's a good ting.

 

Technically the unit bearing is a 1 piece deal.
The cone roller and the cup are assembled as a single 1 piece integrated unit.
But in reality the unit bearing cone rollers often separate away from the cup portion.
Separation of the unit basically yields a typical 2 piece cone roller and cup.

 

the plate that holds the bearing in the tube could be out of spec (concave or convex) allowing the separated bearing to give you the in and out movement. my flanged axle had this and i just got new plates made. these are the same way on ford 9" axles

 

lol at first glance of your title I was thinking Power Door Locks, and im thinking you posted in the wrong section. boy do I feel stupid :tea:

 

Yeah John might be onto it.
Several of the bearing / seal retainer plates that I've seen have a distorted bend to them.

And always remember that the Powr Lok is heavy enough to make a good door stop. (AKA Powr Lok door stop) HUh ?