Ok guys, i have a 2002 tahoe 4x4 i bought from a friend and over the last few months theres been a whine slowly developing from the rear end that had gotten pretty loud now. Tore it down and I believe the pinion bearing Is bout shot. The only thing im worried about is im worried if i just change the bearings that the gears will still whine. is there anyway to tell if there too wore or should i just bite the bullet and go ahead and get gears and bearings. Im no rear end master but i did just rebuild the 12 bolt in my 67 camaro and it went well, used the cheapest 3.55 gears i could find(richmond) and ended up with zero whine. any help is appreciated

thanks,
Daniel

 

The pinion bearing went bad in my Avalanche several years ago, there was a wear pattern wore into the gears because of the bad bearing. Ive been driving with the whine for about 5 years now after replacing the pinion bearing. The noise has gotten no worse.

 

You have a 50/50 shot. Look for uneven wear in the ring gear teeth either on the heel or toe on the drive side. also look closely at the pinion teeth for a taper at the edge. If there is taper it will make noise. Depending on how long you have driven it with the noise (less than 5k miles no towing) it would probably be fine.