speculate on a noise from rear end - turns out it's a tranny problem

[SirRobyn0]

@Vbb199 Just a short response, I gotta pick up the dog from surgery, but wanted to say a couple things to you. First thanks for the thoughts. Next, you said "I hate to say this, but it seems like you've had alot of issues with this 700r4, didn't someone build that for you and its been in and out a few times ?" . No, your thinking of someone else. I have never had this tranny out, it's age old and high mileage. At 220K ish I assume it's been rebuild but I have no idea when or by who, it was old, but had good fluid in it when I bought the truck 4 years ago.

When I bought the truck I added a cooler, and temp gauge BC I knew I'd be towing with it. I've always made sure to keep it cool.

I'm a mechanic by trade, but not a tranny guy at all, so my only choice, both because of that and lack of free time will be to have someone else rebuild it.

I have not lost any gears and if I for example power brake it a little it holds nice and strong, doesn't seem to slip during a short power brake or when driving. It just makes that noise, honestly at lower RPM it's barely noticable, but you get the speed up in first and it's obviously there.

So IF I wanted to investigate this further, what would be to course of action? Or would our say on a high mile tranny it's time to pull it and have it rebuilt.

Thanks.

 

[SirRobyn0]

Oh, I know it wasn't actually the switch, but considering the amount of grief you got about it that was my first thought

I'm not very familiar with a 700R4, but maybe @Vbb199 or @Matt69olds can give you a direction to look.

In my experience, that kind of noise in an automatic trans is a "stop now and inspect" action. Trying to keep driving with that kind of noise is just asking for an expensive or catastrophic end.

I did get a lot of greif over that! Oh well it's something out of the ordinary and I guess that's why.

I agree with "stop and inspect" But on the other hand I once drove a minivan from Minnesota back home to Washington with no reverse at all and some interesting noises in first gear. I guess this comes from a place of ignorance, but I do find it interesting that some transmissions will go literally thousands of miles with all sorts of issues, where as other blow up ASAP.

I will pull the pan, doing at least that seems like a good idea.

Ok gotta go get the dog, then get the ugg, Dodge running I guess....

 

[Vbb199]

@Vbb199 Just a short response, I gotta pick up the dog from surgery, but wanted to say a couple things to you. First thanks for the thoughts. Next, you said "I hate to say this, but it seems like you've had alot of issues with this 700r4, didn't someone build that for you and its been in and out a few times ?" . No, your thinking of someone else. I have never had this tranny out, it's age old and high mileage. At 220K ish I assume it's been rebuild but I have no idea when or by who, it was old, but had good fluid in it when I bought the truck 4 years ago.

When I bought the truck I added a cooler, and temp gauge BC I knew I'd be towing with it. I've always made sure to keep it cool.

I'm a mechanic by trade, but not a tranny guy at all, so my only choice, both because of that and lack of free time will be to have someone else rebuild it.

I have not lost any gears and if I for example power brake it a little it holds nice and strong, doesn't seem to slip during a short power brake or when driving. It just makes that noise, honestly at lower RPM it's barely noticable, but you get the speed up in first and it's obviously there.

So IF I wanted to investigate this further, what would be to course of action? Or would our say on a high mile tranny it's time to pull it and have it rebuilt.

Thanks.

I apologize for the mix up, there was another user who had many many troubles from a 700r4

My bad friend!


for a noisey low reverse, I'd almost be inclined to say if you removed any resistance on the output shaft of the transmission and put it in 1st manually, the noise might would go away.

If you have lost nothing, then truly it does sound like maybe a thrust washer or a pinion shim got chewed


When you pull the pan to inspect your fluid, look for brass, or thin (thin like tin foil) pieces of metal.

The little shims/washers for planetary sets I've seen shred and end up in the pan what looks like little, short, strips of tin foil

Either way I'd say pull the pan and begin looking for damage

 

[SquareRoot]

From the title of this thread, I thought it was going in a different direction.

 

[Soundmound]

From the title of this thread, I thought it was going in a different direction.

To be honest, so did I! I dropped my truck with Rob yesterday and I have a noise from the rear end... My fingers are crossed for a positive outcome for SirRobyn0

 

[SirRobyn0]

I apologize for the mix up, there was another user who had many many troubles from a 700r4

My bad friend!


for a noisey low reverse, I'd almost be inclined to say if you removed any resistance on the output shaft of the transmission and put it in 1st manually, the noise might would go away.

If you have lost nothing, then truly it does sound like maybe a thrust washer or a pinion shim got chewed


When you pull the pan to inspect your fluid, look for brass, or thin (thin like tin foil) pieces of metal.

The little shims/washers for planetary sets I've seen shred and end up in the pan what looks like little, short, strips of tin foil

Either way I'd say pull the pan and begin looking for damage

Nothing to apologize for I know I can't keep the detail of every truck of every user I try to help remember perfectly! My memory is terrible.

So if I pull the pan and find one or the other, is one worse than the other? My immediate concern is the need to haul feed for the farm. I guess what I'm say is do you think, it'll go another couple hundred miles? And I'm a mechanic, customers ask me that question all the time and I hate being put in that position because I don't have a crystal ball, so I apologize for asking, but I guess what I'm asking is if it was your truck to haul with do think you could trust it not to blow up in 200 miles and leave ya on the side of the road.

I'll call Pac-Trans, in Yakima tomorrow and see what he'd be looking at for turn around time on rebuild.

Thanks Vince I for sure appreciate the advice.

 

[SirRobyn0]

From the title of this thread, I thought it was going in a different direction.

Well so did I. Sure would have loved to pop a set of spider gear in and ben done with it. Whelp at this point I'm bleeding money..... It's not just the truck BTW....

To be honest, so did I! I dropped my truck with Rob yesterday and I have a noise from the rear end... My fingers are crossed for a positive outcome for SirRobyn0

Thanks Dave, I cannot see how this will not end in a rebuild, which on the surface is fine, it's a high mileage 700R4, but the timing isn't great, to terrible, I've got a 96 Jeep GC that needs a tranny as the pump is failing, I've been just waiting for a few more months for the farm to slow down. So 2 trannys needed and $1,000 vet bill today. Well the vet bill was a scheduled surgery and worth every penny. The tranny work will be very much worthwhile, and I shouldn't complain BC I can do the R&R myself and save on that part at least.

 

[Vbb199]

Nothing to apologize for I know I can't keep the detail of every truck of every user I try to help remember perfectly! My memory is terrible.

So if I pull the pan and find one or the other, is one worse than the other? My immediate concern is the need to haul feed for the farm. I guess what I'm say is do you think, it'll go another couple hundred miles? And I'm a mechanic, customers ask me that question all the time and I hate being put in that position because I don't have a crystal ball, so I apologize for asking, but I guess what I'm asking is if it was your truck to haul with do think you could trust it not to blow up in 200 miles and leave ya on the side of the road.

I'll call Pac-Trans, in Yakima tomorrow and see what he'd be looking at for turn around time on rebuild.

Thanks Vince I for sure appreciate the advice.

I mean as long you didn't bust one of your pinion gears, it'll be ok for the farm work id think

 

[SirRobyn0]

I mean as long you didn't bust one of your pinion gears, it'll be ok for the farm work id think

Thanks I appreciate that. I'll report back after I pull the pan.

 

[SirRobyn0]

Must have bragged a little too much on the old girl, Rob. @SirRobyn0 .. It's always something, isn't it?

Thanks Perry @idahovette ya it's a little to many somethings going on right now and not enough time to address them. I've got a 96 Jeep GC with a ton of whine from the tranny pump. I've been putting off doing anything hoping to get until the bird farm is less busy, like in November to address it. And 1K vet bill today, but it was money well spent as far as I'm concerned. As I said to Eric, in this thread I shouldn't complain because I do the R&R myself on the trannys and save money that way at least, but somethings I'd been wanting will have to wait another year. After I get the truck handled, maybe I'll consider pulling the Jeep tranny and stuffing a new pump and converter in it. Just seems like a bandaid on a trans with 250K but it would buy sometime.

 

[Matt69olds]

Drop the pan, see if there is any major debris. Put a magnet in the pan, assuming it doesn’t already have one.

You probably have a planetary gearset of bearing that’s noisy. It could be a sign of bad things coming, or you may get lucky and it will last for a few more years.

 

[SirRobyn0]

Drop the pan, see if there is any major debris. Put a magnet in the pan, assuming it doesn’t already have one.

You probably have a planetary gearset of bearing that’s noisy. It could be a sign of bad things coming, or you may get lucky and it will last for a few more years.

Pan drop for sure! There is a magnet in it so we will see what's in there. Do you think, I know no ones got a crystal ball, but do think it's likely I could get another couple hundred miles out of it as well?

I was thinking of leaving it at the farm tomorrow, but I may drive it to see if I can record some audio of the noise and also pull the pan.

Thanks.

 

[Soundmound]

My thought is, if it's going to go better to happen on the way to the garage and not with a full trailer of hay. What a hassle that would be.

 

[SirRobyn0]

Drove the truck the 25 miles into the shop today, other than making the growling noise in 1st gear the drive was uneventful. One portion of the drive involves a steep hill with sharp turns, the first one has yea down to about 15MPH so it downshifts to first and you gotta build speed on the hill, and first gear held nice and strong it just made that noise.

I pulled the pan and surprisingly enough I didn't really find anything note worthy. There was some fine metal on the magnet but nothing you wouldn't expect on your average pan pull. So based on what you guys have said @Vbb199 & @Matt69olds And another guy I kind of know though a friend of a friend who is a retired tranny guy, he basically echoed what you 2 guys said. Roll the dice this weekend odds are the trip will be uneventful and likely the transmission will last a few months more and maybe even beyond that, but because the old truck is so important to the farm she'll get a tranny probably in November.

@Soundmound I'm done with hay for the year, and until I get the tranny fixed there will be no towing the big trailer unless it's absolutely necessary. My game plan. I'll get the Dakota running, probably this weekend and use that for most stuff and save what is left of the tranny for when I really need the full size truck. For the commute to and from the shop I'll either run it in the Dakota or the Jeep with the whinny pump, but it's far less critical and will have less of an impact if the Jeep fails.

Thanks everyone who gave advice or even just supportive words. This week has been rough one and I'm exhausted, but the doggo is recovering at home, that makes me very happy. The tranny in the truck likely has a few more months left in it, and that makes me happy too.

When I figure out who's going to overhaul the tranny for me and I formulate a time line I'll likely start a new thread just for the heck of it.

 

[Bextreme04]

Man, I hate it when my Tranny has problems

Glad it seems to be holding together and nothing too terrible was waiting for you in that pan. Glad the doggo is doing better too!