BigSachsy1

Hello all, I recently ran into a problem with my Tahoe. A little background, its an 05 z71 with 22 inch wheels and 131k miles. It's been very well maintained, not a rip on any of the seats, not a drop of oil leaks. When I got it in December 2022, the engine, undercarriage, everything was immaculate and clean. I had an 01 suburban with 300k and a terrible oil leak so im pretty familiar. The Tahoe had 124k on it at the time I got it. So anyways, last week I was driving and noticed a little shake and vibration while accelerating from around 20-40. Over the next 2 or 3 days it got worse. I looked underneath and there was fluid in the back on and around the differential. I limped it to a shop, and the problem seemed to compound on the way there. Terrible vibration, clunking and scraping/grinding noises the whole way. It was only a few miles from my house too. So the mechanic looked at it today and ended up saying I need a new differential. The Pinon gasket/seal seems to be gone, and there is a lot play where the U-joint is, and when you wiggle it, it leaks diff fluid. I am going to link the report the mechanic gave me. He quoted me around 2k to fix it. Thing is, im not even sure if he opened up the diff to see what gears were bad, etc. Something else, I was driving and I turned off the traction control and left it off for a minute or 2. Just wanted to see if I accelerated any faster. I don't try to push it with this car but wanted to see anyway. Could that, and the fact that it has 22 inch wheels, be the reason for the mechanical failure? Any advice or opinions are welcome and thank you if you've made it this far.Tekmetric
https://shop.tekmetric.com/inspectio...NMFKXqi-ZLhEsc

mountainmanjoe

He doesn't need to. You can see in the video that the bearing is done. To replace it, the axle has to be gutted which is a big job.

BigSachsy1

yup, needed a new bearing and pinon seal, and did all 4 u joints, and they cracked the housing on my rusted drive shaft. All in all about 2k, said it will be done by Monday.

tech2

hope he does all the bearings/races as metal would have gotten in all of them.