[rat88]

New member!!??

I just bought an 07 650 prowler with 300 hrs, 3400 miles. Mainly used on a farm. It has a real bad drive line chirp/growl. I can feel a little slop in the rear drive line u-joints. They are ordered and will be in on monday (10/21). The noise has gotten worse in the last 30 miles.

It sounds like a hot dry drill bit at 600 rpm while driving 25 mph.

I drained the rear diff oil and only got a puddle that would cover half of a 1 gallon drain pan. No water and no chunks or shavings.

I pulled the drive line and put it up on jack stands. I spun the tires by hand and heard what sounded like a pinion growl. I pulled the input housing ,only to find out I needed a $60 tool to look at the pinion gear. Then I realized that with no resistance on the input, the pinion would rub both sides of the other gear(duh).
CVs sound good, no bearing ticks at slow rpm.

Rear u-joint had a little rough spot but were not dry. I have not pulled the front (of the rear driveline ) u-joint yet. That is where I felt the slop.
The rear drive line through the diff seems like its a good tight.( not sloppy, not too hard to turn)

I do have about 10 degrees of slop at the transmission. Is that too much?

 

[Joes5091]

Welcome to the form, Is the noise on braking?

 

[Joes5091]

Im asking if its while braking because thats what most people complain about.

 

[rat88]

I removed the rear caliper after removing the driveline to eliminate brake noise/drag when turning wheels by hand. the pinion noise seemed to get worse after this.
New u joints may fix it, but it sounds like more than just a u joint squeek.
I am trying to come up with a plan B in case the ujoints dont fix it.
Would I be able to narrow it down by running it up to 30 on the jack stands or would it make noises it wouldnt normaly make with no load on the suspension?
The only plan B I have right now is to shoot the CVs with chain lube to see if that helps.

 

[rat88]

it makes the noise without braking

Rear pads look thin (1/8" of pad) how thick are new ones?

 

[Joes5091]

New pads are very thin, the diff gears are straight cut gear so they are loud but maybe you do have a bad pinion bearing and the diffs dont hold much oil a lot of times when you drain them
Alot of the oil is up in the bellows when you refill it only fill it to 1 inch below the fill hole.

 

[rat88]

the bearing on the yoke feels good. pinion shaft bearing feels good from what I can tell.
I didnt know about the 1 inch below the fill plug thing.that is gonna be hard to guess. I heard 8oz from some where. It took 11 to 12 oz to get to the plug, so 8 sounds right

 

[Joes5091]

Yes think the rear is 8.5 oz wrap tape at the 1 inch on a Zip tie thats how I do it. Most people over fill them then blow seals.

 

[Joes5091]

You did check the wheel bearings?

 

[rat88]

only by spinning the wheels by hand. No squeeks, slop or rough spots.
axles seem tight when shaking wheels up/ down and side /side.
I dont think the bearings are worn out, but that is one more place for chain lube on plan B

 

[Joes5091]

This may be a shot in the dark but check your rear cvs.

 

[rat88]

thats what has me stumped, everything seems tight but not too tight.
I had a rear ujoint get tight on my old jeep and it didnt have enough power to run 45 mph. I had to drive home in 4 high to keep some of the stress off the rear drivelive. No squeeks, chirps or banging.
The prowler would run 50 with 2 people in it when I got it last week. I havent tried to hit top end since. I dont know if 4wd will help this noise or not. I will try it when I get the ujoints in.

 

[rat88]

I didnt want to just start throwing money at it and shot gun everything, but I bit the bullet and bought rear axles. I hope like hell the noise isnt coming from the diff. I bought new tires and a 72" snow plow, so it isnt going to be a high dollar golf cart. I would hate to blow up a CV with 12" of snow on the ground. I spent the last 3 years plowing snow out of the driveway for 4 hours with a garden tractor every time we got more than 8". That was the reason for the upgrade.

 

[rat88]

I read somewhere that the axles are interchangeable l/r f/r, but someone else threw the BS flag on that. Can anyone confirm or deny that? I might hang onto the old ones for emergencies.

 

[rat88]

U joints did help a little. I still have a squeek/growl/chirp/grind.
I marked the yoke and found it had a tight spot at about the same spot while rotating axles. I have not tried it with rear caliper removed.
The rpm of the most serious noise doesnt match up with the rpm of the input shaft.
CVs had a little slop, but not rough.I pulled the axles ( with the hub still on. I busted a 1/2" breaker bar with a cheater on it trying to get the axle nuts off) Axle bearings still sound and feel good. I have ordered new axles and bearings.
I am a tight wad and hate to replace good parts, but have been around the block enough to know it can cost more if you dont do it right the first time.

Any ideas on what to try next if it still sounds like crap with $300 worth of new parts ?
Bad spot in ring and pinion gear that only match up with every x number of turns?

 

[Joes5091]

Some of the early Prowlers had pad noise while driving and also more whel braking there is a spring kit for the brake pads to help with the noise I think its like 12 bucks.

 

[rat88]

i checked into those. $13 for the spring and $13 for tax and shipping =$26 for a $4 spring. Anyone know the specs so I can get one the next time I am at the hardware store?

 

[Joes5091]

I hope you have better luck than I did with finding them outside an Arctic Cat dealer.

 

[rat88]

the bearings came in a day early. Those are some weird buggers, the inner race/ outer seal flops around without the shaft in it. I noticed this on the old ones and thought I found the smoking gun (or at least one of them). the new ones feel the same. I did flush a bunch of crap out of the old bearings, but they never really felt rough. i guess it takes more pressure and speed to get them to act up. They dont seem to fit that tight on the axles (old and new brgs), that dont seem right. do they need loctite?
I can turn the knuckle and the inner race turns with the rest of the bearing.

The axles are a different story. I checked on the ups tracking and found that delivery is delayed.... "train derailment" at the local ups hub. I think that means "We lost your Shat"
It has to be scanned in to be at the hub. If it was scanned in, how was it still on a train?

 

[rat88]

I hope you have better luck than I did with finding them outside an Arctic Cat dealer.

I had to fix the neighbors cub cadet mower. They had 3 different clusterf's of the deck drive in 2007. Every one of them threw the belt. It went to the shop 5 times to get fixed. They kept putting on the factory patch and charged them $75. I put on generic hardware store parts for $15 and the belt hasnt come off once in 2 years.

with just a loose description of the spring, I think I can find something that will work. If I have to buy 5 springs that dont work, I still save money.