2008 Suburban problem
 

Hello all! New here to this forum. Heres my problem. I have a 2008 Suburban 1500 2 wheel drive with the 5.3L flex fuel. My wife is the primary driver of the vehicle. She complained of a strange noise about two weeks ago. I usually do all the car repairs, and this is our first rear wheel drive. That being said, it is making a noise in the rear which sounds like someone is behind me with some aggressive all terrains. It gets higher pitched on acceleration and lower when deceleration.
First I went to the tire shop to get tires rotated and balanced. Then I pulled axles and diff cover off. Oil looked dirty, but no shavings. I replaced the outer hub bearings. Everything in diff looked ok to me. I put Mobil 1 back in and sound is still there.
I took it to a shop that does rear end repair. He told me, its likely the pinion gear bearing (I have no leak from seal?). He told me I should replace the inner bearings, the pinion bearing, and ring gear. Gave me a quote of $1200-$1500.

Would love to hear your thoughts and opinions.

Thanks in advance! Robbie

Robbie,

How many miles do you have on the truck?

Based upon your description that the rear end noise happends both in acceleration and deceleration, it sounds like the rear end shop is correct in their diagnosis.

Since the rear end noise has started pretty quickly, you may also have worn gears.

Please find attached a link to an article on diagnosing vehicle noise. Hopefully it will help you to understand the problem.

Diagnosing Noise (Part 1)

sounds like the diff went south, as to what specifically I couldn't tell you, but it does sound as if you would be best to rebuild...

We have just under 100k on the Suburban. I was hoping for an easier and cheaper solution. lol. it just seems strange, when I pulled the diff cover to replace outer bearings/seals, the ring, pinion, and spider gears all looked good. I found no metal shavings either.
oh well. I wonder how long I can hold out? will it hurt anything at this point if I am going to replace the gears and bearings?
Thanks for the speedy reply as well.

Also wondering if that quote is in the ballpark? I'm in Cali and expect to pay a tad more. Going to another shop tomorrow for another quote.

Robbie,

The miles seem low to have that much wear, especially in California. An alternative is to try and find a used rear end from a wrecker. Often they will provide you with the same or better warranty as a rebullt unit. It may take some searching. If you take this route, try and get the same rear end gear ratio that you are currently using in the truck.

I found this salvage yard in your area.

Liberty AutoDism. - About us.

It is hard to know how long you have before something breaks and you chip a gear or the bearings totally fail. Since it is the vehicle that your wife uses, you may want to try and repair it sooner, rather than latter.

Pricing from the shop is about right, but you may want to get two more quotes from other shops in the area, so that you have a comparison. Prices vary between areas. The main item will be warranty and customer service level, should you have future problems.

Good luck with the repair

Thanks for the link! I emailed them, hopefully I get some good info. I also called another shop that was a referral from my Snap-On dealer. He quoted me $780 to replace all bearings and seals. $1150 if I need ring and pinion replaced. It's a little better. Do I just shell out the extra $400 for the gears if mine still look good? I can't imagine they would worn or damaged to the point of replacement with 98k miles. Decisions decisions.

Literally the same thing happened to mine. Repaired under warranty, and haven't herd a peep out of it since. ;)

One thing I will suggest is, that Diff's are NOT easy to work on. Takes some tools and a LOT of talent. Choose your repair service carefully ! ;)

PS:
I know, I've tried to repair them. I was good on the tools, short on the talent ! :(

I think we lucked out! I called the local Chevy dealer and they said they would check it out. They said if it was the pinion bearing they would replace it under the drive train warranty. We just squeaked in. The 5 years ends in June and we just clicked 99k miles, just shy of the 100k mark. I pray that they replace all the bearings inside. It's currently sitting at the dealership.
My wife had to drop it off after work this morning. I told her to ask about replacing our cracked dash (nope) and our peeling steering wheel (nope). Oh well. I'll be happy and relieved with the rear ends clean bill of health!
Thank you for the replies! I wish this forum was as active as my car forum. I guess its different because 1000's of young adults aren't driving Suburbans around. LOL!