2003 Wrangler 4.0. Stock everything. Standard.

I was cruising on the highway at about 70 and started to hear a warbly whining noise. I pulled over and as I was slowing down the noise got worse - clunkier and louder. There was a strong burnt rubber odor. I got out to see if I could tell where it was coming from, but I couldn't. I thought it was the clutch burning up. I decided to try driving some more. I started moving again and it only made a little noise starting off, then it sounded okay until I got up to about 30 miles an hour. At that point it started to sound more aggressive, like metal on metal. I got up to cruising speed again and it quited down, but not for long. The noise seemed worse when I was shifting. I didn't want to make anything worse so I pulled over and called a tow truck.

I still thought it was the clutch until the truck unloaded it in my driveway and I saw there was a puddle of oil where it had been sitting. It leaked out from the pinion seal. So I pulled the cover off to see if my gears were soup or not. As soon as I pulled the cover off I smelled a strong burning odor like I smelled before. The gears looked fine though and I couldn't find any sheared metal (although there were chunks of RTV in the bottom of the differential - probably no big deal).

I did change the rear pinion seal a couple weeks ago. Long story short, I may have over torqued the pinion nut, I'm not sure. It's a D35. So now I'm thinking maybe I chewed up the bearing. The pedal still feels fine, so it's probably not the clutch after all (also, when I bought it 3,000 miles ago, they claimed the had just put a new clutch in it).

What does this sound like? Probably the bearing? Does it make sense that I would smell the differential cooking from inside the car? If it is the bearing, I don't think I should try to replace that myself. How much might a garage charge to do the job?

Any other thoughts?

That's the smell of the poop that's inside every D35.

Throw it away & get a real axle.

I don't do much off-roading. I drive a Jeep because I want a versatile, utilitarian vehicle that won't get stuck in the winter. The D35 is fine for what I want. I don't need the elitist rhetoric.

I've had the cover off before for oil changes and this smell is very different.

I read stories of them breaking on the road too. Google has images of the axle walking out in traffic.

If you have the mechanical know how or the adventurism to jump in there. I would take it apart and take a look at the bearings. There's not really alot to the rear end, just take care to keep track of what came from where so you can put it back into the same area. If you do find the bearing to be bad on the pinion a driveline shop can press a new one on there for ya and the cost should be reasonable. A majority of driveline work is always labor. The moe of it you can do yourself the better off your wallet will be. Hope this makes sense and helps.

Cool, if only we were talking about a broken axle...

How tight was the pinion nut? Rule of thumb - it should take about 15-20 ft-lbs of tourqu to turn the ring and pinion (with no tires on and off the ground). If they were too tight, it certainly sounds like a crush sleeve or maybe a bearing. My first thought was no or low diff oil, but since the gears are apparently OK and it had oil, you have gotta be on the right track.

It was probably worse while shifting because the load is off it at that point and it was coasting temporarily, taking the torque off so the pinion could chew up a different spot. Hopefully there is no damage to the case.

How tight was the pinion nut?

Yeah... about that...

I was told it should be torqued to 150 ft/lbs. The only torque wrench I had access to was my brother's, and I didn't realize until I was ready to put my pinion back together that the gauge only went up to 75 ft/lbs. However, I remembered someone telling me that there were spacers in there to prevent the bearing to be overloaded from excessive torque, so I figured guestimation would be close enough. I put the torque wrench to the maximum to get a feel for what 75 ft/lbs was like, which was relatively easy, and then I pulled at what felt to be about twice that force to estimate 150.

So, come to find out I read my brother's wrench wrong, and it actually goes up to 190.

You want about 8-20 in lbs of turning tq depending on what axle/ new used bearings etc. I don't know the specs for the turdeh 5 though.

You want about 8-20 in lbs of turning tq depending on what axle/ new used bearings etc. I don't know the specs for the turdeh 5 though.
That sounds like the pinion bearing preload. You test that with no carrier or seal.

170-500 lbf ft is what I am seeing for the pinion nut. How much effort did it take for you to do your estimated torqueing? That's actually a lot, so I highly doubt you went over 500 lbf ft or even got close.

Make sure you get you're units right! There's usually a couple different markings on the tq wrench.
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is the pinion loose at all? are you sure the u-joints are ok? i would look them over good to. i would also check the passages to make sure no rtv plugged up the oil supply to a bearing. i am not sure how they are set up i havent been in a 35 yet.

Yeah... about that...

I was told it should be torqued to 150 ft/lbs. The only torque wrench I had access to was my brother's, and I didn't realize until I was ready to put my pinion back together that the gauge only went up to 75 ft/lbs. However, I remembered someone telling me that there were spacers in there to prevent the bearing to be overloaded from excessive torque, so I figured guestimation would be close enough. I put the torque wrench to the maximum to get a feel for what 75 ft/lbs was like, which was relatively easy, and then I pulled at what felt to be about twice that force to estimate 150.

So, come to find out I read my brother's wrench wrong, and it actually goes up to 190.

nah, you can still crush the bearing, usually it happens with an impact gun, but if you really cranked her down it's possible.

That's the amount of torque it probably takes to start crushing the crush sleeve. The pinion should be tightened to somewhere around 15 in-lbs of preload on the bearings and it's good. You probably crushed the crush sleeve too far and destroyed the bearings.