Ring and pinion questions...

I run a zip locker with 4.56 gears on the rear, during the break in period, these gears where mated to the original detroit I bought and later had to replace because my rig was a 2014 and we all know the story of auto Lockers and newer JK's. Apparently, during the break in, for one reason or another, these got tempered to where they start howling at 40mph and higher speeds while under load. After a year, I've gotten annoyed by it and I'm thinking of replacing them. I have a few questions, the first one would be, if I replace it, could I use it for a front 44 when I can finally upgrade down the road or is the gears on a front 44 for a JK cut differently? Second question, since they howl after 40mph and under load only, does it make sense to put them on the front axle if possible? Third question would be, when I go for the PR44 I'm thinking if I can, I could also invest on the rear D44 upgrade from Dynatrac that has the 35 Spline arb and move my Yukon to the PR44. If I change the RP due to the howling now. Could there be a chance that if I change the locker to the arb it might start to howl again because even with proper shimming, the wear pattern might not be the same?

Thanks in advance for all your replies...

You need reverse cut for the front, rears won't work. Your zip will work as long as you don't get the wrong pr44 housing (I.e. The rubicon housing if your zip is non-rubicon). And I wouldn't spend any money just trying to get rid of noise. My gears have a slight howl at any speed under any throttle condition. Pattern, backlash, and preload are spot on. So as long as they are set up right I wouldn't worry about it. You could always get an atlas transfer case to drown out the sound of your diff gears.

Does yours sound like it "grinds" a bit when letting off the gas from load?

jorgelrod said:

Does yours sound like it "grinds" a bit when letting off the gas from load?

Click to expand...

No, that's not normal, but it might not be your gears either. Your driveshaft will be spinning a lot faster than it was with stock gears, and combine that with a lift, it could be your DS. Especially under deceleration where your pinion rotates downwards.

If you plan on tearing apart your rear end to salvage your locker, it would be a great time to have a 1310 or 1350 yoke put on and new DS and UCAs installed. Because changing the yoke after the fact could fuck up your preload.

Good point, I am moving to 35's from 33's this weekend, I'll be extra attentive to the howling and other sounds since moving up in tire size should translate into less DS revolutions than what is doing right now...