I'm pretty sure my pinion on the diff is Squeaking. it only does it under load (accelerating) at any speed including just creeping along at 1mph. its a squeak squeak squeak noise and not a constant squeeeeeaaaaking.

the oil is clean (original oil) and the magnet in the fill plug had no metal on it.

has anyone had this problem and what was it? bearing? dry seal?

i don't really have time to fix it so approx how much will this cost to fix.

this truck has been good to me and only has ever let me down once. i need to address this before it causes more damage and lets me sit.

 

Sounds like a dry u-joint in the driveshaft. Block wheels fore and aft so it won't roll. Put shift in neutral. Push driveshaft by u-joints up, down, left and right to check for looseness. Try spraying WD-40 on u-joint seals to try to stop squeak as a test. Test pinion flange for looseness (caused by a loose pinion nut).

 

u-joints are not loose and i didn't feel any play in the pinion. i did also spray wd40 to see if i could pinpoint the squeak.

 

It's probably your pinion seal. The squeek your describing sounds exactly like what mine sounded like. Pretty annoying pulling up to every stop light with that squeek... squeek... squeek. I drained and pulled the diff cover, saw all the gears and crap in there, and promptly put it back together and took it to a shop. I have no idea how difficult of a fix it would be, but the shop didn't charge me more than $150 if I remember right so it's probably not as bad as it looks.

 

if its just the seal then I'll prolly just do it myself when i get a chance. i guess it wont hurt to put a new one in.

 

Lee I had the same squeak squeak squeak sound about two years ago. I got underneath and shook the driveshaft real good. There wasn't any play. I changed the u-joints anyway (got the ones with zerks) and the noise went away.

If your pinion seal goes bad it'll leak gear oil. There would be a small puddle underneath the rear end after it sat all night(happened to me this summer). Not sure if the seal going out would cause a noise.

Not sure which one it was, but it was obviously dry. Sounds like yours is also dry. Any time that sound is present it's almost always the u joint. Just get a torch, a vice, and a couple of hours.

 

I agree, I still would bet on U-joints. You could disconnect the rear one and twist all 4 caps and see if one is stiff.