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Is my LSD toast? 2001 R50 w/210k


PrecisionX
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Is my differential toast? 2001 LSD with 210k? Fluid is honey colored, dif is hot to the touch and there’s a vibration between 60-80mph only. Nothing before. Shop put a  stethoscope to it and said he can hear the pinion bearing grinding I think? What are my options and is it worth it or is it a wheel balance issue? Fluid was changed at 135 and 30k ish after, both front and rear. 

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To get a little deeper about the symptoms it’s essentially a vibration between 60-80mph, there is ZERO vibration before. The truck is naturally noisy that I can’t tell if it’s louder or not. I’m running Hankook Dynapro ATMs in 245/75. My rear drums and shoes have given me an issue enough that they’re getting replaced after a few months of getting brake shake in the rear under braking. The fronts are being replaced too but the Vibration starts without braking, just on the highway. 

 

The truck is clean with minimal to no rust, it’s a Texas rig. I’d hate to see this be the end as I think a differential rebuild or replacement is probably more expensive than the trucks worth keeping. Mechanics have told me to check a wheel balance first and drive it on the highway, put it in neutral and if the vibration goes away it’s a drivetrain issue, if it’s still there it’s a wheel balance issue. 

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If it is just a vibration at a certain speed range, odds are that it is a wheel balance issue or possibly just the harmonics getting in sync. With it being a new issue, I would suspect a thrown weight from one or more wheels. 

 

Did you have any service work or anything changed just before this problem appeared?

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11 hours ago, Mr_Reverse said:

If it is just a vibration at a certain speed range, odds are that it is a wheel balance issue or possibly just the harmonics getting in sync. With it being a new issue, I would suspect a thrown weight from one or more wheels. 

 

Did you have any service work or anything changed just before this problem appeared?

 

This started happening after my rear drums were replaced, I’d get brake shake from the rear and then this turned into cutting the drums and it ended up turning into consistently shaking at highway speeds only between 60-80. If I’m below that it’s gone. My steering rack is leaking internally, a tie rod has play, just had both front axles replaced. The shop mentioned it to me because they wanted to let me know that the shake probably wouldn’t go away once the brakes were replaced. He’s “95 percent sure it’s the dif” but all these things point to wheel balance 

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Shake while braking is completely different than a cruise vibration. I can't imagine a diff problem that would cause vibration only at high speed, but no other symptoms. Brake drums sometimes have balance weights welded to them, but usually they make no difference when they fall off. Generally drums don't have enough variance to make balancing them worthwhile. I suggest doing the simple thing first and get all 4 wheels rebalanced and see what happens. Most places that you buy tires from include balance maintenance in the warranty, so it generally just a matter of time rather than expense to get the balance  checked.

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Vibrations at a certain range usually imply a driveshaft issue, and that could be front or rear driveshaft.  A bad differential would produce significant noise over vibration.  Constant vibrations tend to be wheel/tire related.  I agree that the drums or shoes would be a significant source of vibrations, and if they were the source, you'd be able to quickly rule it out (apply the brakes and see if the vibe stops).

 

 

I had some open questions about the severity of the vibrations, and if you're sure they're coming from the rear and whether they are felt throughout the truck, or even in the steering wheel.

 

 

The simplest thing to do is rotate the tires around and see if the issue continues and/or travels around.

How are the shocks?  An unbalanced tire and a worn shock may produce vibrations.

If the vibes seem like they could come from the front, and you don't have manual hubs, the issue could be the front driveshaft.

Check front and rear drive shaft run-out.  Check play in u-joints.  Bad run-out or joints will absolute cause vibrations at a given speed range.

 

 

 

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The above duplicate tread has been referred to this one.

 

Per Community Guidelines please avoid creating duplicate threads in the future. This only scatters relevant information across multiple threads, making it harder to track diagnostic related information.

 

Also note that members often build off of the comments of other NPORA Members, by keeping responses in one place it helps discussions come to a solution more quickly.

 

:aok:

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The vibration feels like it’s throughout the truck and in the steering wheel it’s more faint. It’s not WTF is that I need to pull over but it’s prominent enough that you notice it. I’m picking it up today and will update

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I dealt with a bad vibration for years that turned out to be a bad driveshaft. The little weights that were welded on had fallen off. I highly doubt the diff is bad. They're extremely stout in these rigs. I've even had water in mine a few times before I knew to extend the vents. And the truck just got retired with 300k miles on it.

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Replaced the rear drums and shoes, pads, rotors and calipers and the vibration is gone but I do have a slight humming from the diff. Fluid is clean with no metal shavings at all. 

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My parents had an r50 from nearly new (I think it was 2 years old off lease). You could always hear the rear end howl a little bit. It never had an issue and they had it for almost 250,000 miles before trading it in on a 2nd gen xterra.

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