Loud grind

lambo

New member
Ok so driving today i heard a loud grinding like the drive shaft is rubbing the body of the jeep or it also sounds like tire rubbing, But there not. i jacked it up and spun the wheels and there was no noise from the axles or diff. I just had the cat and muffler changed but they said the tail pipe was fine and didn't replace it, just welded new muffler to it. Could the angle of the tale pipe have changed and course this noise? I dint see any rub marks on it. Could it be the breaks? Please help...
 
Basic things I would check in the back (if the growl is coming from behind you) of the jeep, differential fluid level (check of metal shavings in the fluid as well), transfer case fluid level (also check for metal flakes) if the fluid is low or has metal in it it could be bearings in the rear axle or transfer case. Grab the drive shaft with the jeep in park and try twisting it back and fourth, also does it make a loud thud or bang when shifting in reverse, this could indicate worn u-joints. Does it get louder as you speed up or is it a constant grow? Just off the top of my head easy checks. I doubt it is the exhaust system. When they lifted the jeep up to install the new muffler (depending on the type of car lift used) the rear axle may of drooped down and caused the drive line geometry to change which would explain a u-joint growl after a muffler service. I would only suspect the brakes if the noise only occurred when you applied them unless the shop did a brake service while you were there, did they pull the tires off to look at the rear brakes?
 
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I have had trouble with internal diffeerential bearings on both ends of both XJ Cherokees I have owned; this past weekend I just rebuilt the front diff on my 97. had to do the same on my now departed '01. In both I wound up 'yarding a replacement rear diff (it was quicker to replace but cheaper to rebuild)
have also had trouble with front hub bearings causing that symprom.
 

The shaft and u joints are nice and stiff, I'm going to pull the cover off the pumpkin and give it a look. it seem to be coming from the axle but like I say I'm not sure. {dont tell the wife but I hope its the diff so I can justify the 44 I want} L>O>L
 
If they just replaced the cat/muffler, maybe they didn't get the front and back ends on the exhaust back in-line where they whereand something got wonky. Exhaust does seem unlikely to me also, but it seems fishy that the problem started soon after they worked on it.
 
Went to pull the cover off the diff and low and behold the tail pipe is touching the gas tank. Brought it back to muffler shop and they adjusted it and no more grind. The noise sounded like a rotating grind so I was very surprised. It is a very deceiving sound. Thank god it wasn't the diff which i opened up anyway and all looks good in there nice clean oil -yummy. Anyway rear noise is hard to isolate and I'm told most of the time it the simplest thing that makes the Noise so dont panic like me when there is a new noise. Thanks for the help guys and stay dirty.
 
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