Off topic Ram 1500 rear end noise

2011 Ram 1500 4WD has a rear end whine. Started during the summer. Noise changes with wheel speed, not engine speed. Acceleration, deceleration, all the same. I've even shut off the engine and coasted, no change in noise. No sign of overheating, no metal in the oil. I jacked up both wheels and idled it in gear and listened through a metal rod. I think the noise is definitely in the rear end. No diff lock. Anybody have experience with this? Thanks. I hope to do quite a bit of towing this year, so it needs to get fixed. Happy New Decade.

Have you grabbed the pinion yoke and wiggled it around to see if there's any play in the pinion bearings (which should actually be pre-loaded)?

Do this with the wheels chocked and/or the parking brake on for safety and with the transmission in "neutral" so the driveline isn't "loaded".

That is a very common issue with Dodge Ram 1500's. Mine and several of the neighbors had that whine/growel, but they never quit going.--------------------Loren

(quoted from post at 17:41:09 12/31/19) That is a very common issue with Dodge Ram 1500's. Mine and several of the neighbors had that whine/growel, but they never quit going.--------------------Loren

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Yup. Had one neighbor ask me to look at his and I found the pinion nut had backed off. He didn't have time or money, so I loctited it and reset the crush. Another neighbor asked me to install all new parts for him, which we made plans to do, but it failed while he was on the road and he had to pay big bucks to get it fixed.

Does Dodge make a special addative for the rear end oil?

Years back Dodge and Jeep had batches of bad bearings for the diff. carrier. My 1996 ram 2500 had this issue. So I wonder if they still have this issue ?

With out listening to it and doing a test drive it is sort hard to tell ya for sure . what ya need to do is see how it sounds when you get on it then at a even drive then on a coast . The new modren way of setting up rear ends with the CRUSH spacer can over time back off the org . setting allowing the pinion to move and set up a bad ware pattern . and over time this will set up a whine . Back in the good old days pinion bearing preload was set with shims and NORMALLY never changed thru the life of the rear end . Myself personally saved the rear end in our trusty old 2003 Dodge Durango , ours has the heavy trailer tow pkg. and the same rear end as a 1500 , I noticed while doing a oil change that i was getting some seepage on the pinion seal and went back to check it out , while doing the wiggle and giggle test i found that i had movement on the input yoke . So now let the fun begin as now i have to get a new seal along with a new crush spacer and guesstamate the rolling preload on used bearings , so i set rolling preload to 27 inch Lbs on a new seal used yokes and old bearings , sofar all is well. On my old 88 Ford F350 4x4 i lost that rear end as i did not catch that one in time and ate the ring and pinion . Out of all the rear ends i have set up in my life time that Ford STERLING 10.what ever it was was the worst rear end i had ever done . It also used a Crush spacer for pinion preload and as long as you were deriving FORWARD that was fine but when you where backing up with a load on the trailer it pulled against the crush spacer causing it to colaps and cause the pinion to move getting out of scyincwith the ring . On that one i did away with the crush spacer and made up a solid spacer and found some thin shims to fine tune the preload on the new ring and pinion and bearing . Now how to solve your problem You may end up having to rebuild the rear end with a new ring and pinion and bearing kit. Or take your chances with a bone yard replacement . Either way it will not be fun.

Have you tried putting different tires on it? If not do that first. Tire noise can be locational and it is cheap to find that answer if a friend has a vehicle with the same bolt pattern. Jim

And my sons rear end yoke didnt have a nut, It had some ridicules other method of attachment that i cant remember how it was now.

My 2011 1500 Ram had two recalls on the rear diff/axle nut. Bet yours does too. Are you sure its not a front wheel bearing? They don't always make a noise with the wheel up in the air. Turning hard either way at speed may or may not cause the noise to get louder/softer.

Thanks for the responses. Definitely going to look into the recall.

Does it have a limited slip differential. If so it needs to have an additive added occasionally or it will sound noisy.

(quoted from post at 03:35:00 01/01/20) Does it have a limited slip differential. If so it needs to have an additive added occasionally or it will sound noisy.

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I don't know if the 1500's have clutches. The AAM in the 2500 and 3500 don't. A lot of these newer limited slips are just a modification in the software when it senses wheel slip. If there are no clutches, then climbing gear additive isn't needed, although they usually require synthetic lube to keep them from chattering.

I also had a similar noise in my 11 ram 1500 this past summer. It turned out to be a bad pinion bearing. They replaced all the bearings while they where in there.

(quoted from post at 18:49:28 12/31/19) Have you tried putting different tires on it? If not do that first. Tire noise can be locational and it is cheap to find that answer if a friend has a vehicle with the same bolt pattern. Jim

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Just swap the back tires to the front. If it is the tires the noise will move to the front.

(quoted from post at 15:52:07 12/31/19) And my sons rear end yoke didnt have a nut, It had some ridicules other method of attachment that i cant remember how it was now.

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A bit more information would be valuable here. What vehicle are you talking about to start with.

I've never seen a pinion shaft that didn't have a nut to preload the bearings and to keep things together but anything is possible I guess.

Let us know what you are talking about.