The rear is pretty quite when the car is in nuetral but as soon as you put it in gear and give it some gas it makes a ticking kinda clunking grinding noise thats not all that loud but sounds horrable. I was thinking it was the pinion nut but from what I am reading on here that only makes noise on decel or when coasting and thats when mine makes the least noise? what else could it be. Keep in mind I have not yet checked the bolt so It could be that but I am wondering what else to look for while I am under the car so I am not just wasting my time.

 

when i had something sounding like that it was a couple teeth off the pinion drove fine but the more i drove worse it got it wasnt loud but sounded horrible good luck

 

what do I need to do?? should I just start pulling it apart>?? what are the first things I should check??

 

Block the front wheels, jack up the back of the car, set it on stands, undo the bolts for the rear cover, pry it off and make a mess. Once you're in there, just check to see if all the teeth are normal looking and not chipped, broken or missing. Might be an idea to check your u-joints before doing that though. Make sure they're not flopping around. btw, still living in Chico?

 

yea Im still in chico and trying to work on two cars in the parking lot for my apartments and its geting really old. I went throught it and the u j's are fine then I open the diff and omfg like two or three teeth are missing from the pinion gear and a couple from the ring gear. that rear end is done. I guess its time for me to do the fourth gen swap but at least ill have better gears. posi, and disc breaks out back and you cant beat that.

 

I've got my old rear sitting around that has 3.42 gears, non posi and drums. Check over at Chico Auto Dismantling for a 4th gen rear, they might have something there for a fair price.

 

Taken a look at your U-joints? That's what it mostly sounds like.

 

He said they looked fine but there's missing teeth on the ring and pinion

 

yea, I am looking to pick one up down there they have one chillin waitin for me but I got no way to get it home. it was a good price too. U get parts from down there cause the pull your self side of the yard is picked through./

 

I got the rear that is sitting on the ground now from them like 3 years ago now. That's the only part I've gotten but a buddy of mine gets stuff there from time to time, full service though.