Knock in rear with Dana 44

[Coth12]

Nice, it'll be going out again in another ~20k....just outside of warranty

Sure seems that way reading this thread. However the dealer said this falls under the power train warranty 5/60. Plus the new parts are warranted 2 yrs unlimited miles. Hope I don’t have to fool with it again but I expect to.

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[Coth12]

Did you ever change the oil in the diff since you bought the Jeep?

Is your Jeep stock? Or did you put bigger tires on it?

The only reason I'm asking is I also have the LSD and I have changed the oil 3 times; 5,000, 10,000 and 20,000. This is very excessive, but I'm hoping it will save me from all the issues in this 90 + page thread.

So far mine is good, (fingers crossed).

Also, stock tires and no lift kit on mine.

 

[basinite]

Also, stock tires and no lift kit on mine.

Thanks for responding and answering my questions. Sorry you had to deal with this right after buying it, that had to put a dent in the fun factor of having a new vehicle to play around with.

I'm always paranoid about mine breaking after reading all the issues on this thread. When I first changed out my oil at only around 4,700 miles, it looked like black tar. I'm not kidding. I think I posted a pic on one of these threads.

 

[Reabob]

Hi @jy86206 and @Reabob ,

If you either of you would like additional assistance while getting this addressed by your Jeep dealers, please feel free to send us a private message with your current mileage & VINs!

Courtney
Jeep Cares

@JeepCares
Hi, can you do something if i am in Canada?

 

[JeepCares]

@JeepCares
Hi, can you do something if i am in Canada?

Hi Reabob--

Unfortunately, we’re unable to assist customers outside of the United States at this time. We recommend contacting the customer care in your region by email or by phone. You can call the Canadian Customer Care team at 1-800-465-2001 or head over to https://www.jeep.ca/en for more contact information relevant to your specific region. I hope this helps!

Courtney
Jeep Cares

 

[Woodynj]

Looks like I can join this party. 2018 JL Sahara with LSD with 26k miles. Knocking was not noticed till I put the hardtop on for the winter in Nov so not sure how long it has been happening (rode without a top all summer). Adding it to the list along with the steering issue. Back to the dealer I go, again, for the 100th time, at least that's how it feels.

 

[fat_head]

Just dropped my Jeep off yesterday for this problem. YAY! I think my Jeep has had every single top 10 "common things that break on JLs"

It's a 2018 JL Sport with the LSD

 

[basinite]

Sorry if this question has already been posted, but I am not going back and reading 91 pages!!!

How loud is the knocking when the LSD starts to go bad? Basically, is this something you can easily hear? Did it start out subtle and get louder as time went on?

Just asking so I know what to listen for.

 

[DudeBro]

How loud is the knocking when the LSD starts to go bad? Basically, is this something you can easily hear? Did it start out subtle and get louder as time went on?

It definitely gets worse over time. Mine started as a single "knock" when accelerating out of coasting. By the time I finally managed to convince the dealer to do something about it, it sounded like an old roller coaster climbing a hill when driving down the road. And it's definitely much louder on cold days. Another thing I noticed was that my tires would chirp when slowly turning like backing out of a parking spot.

 

[Mikester86]

I'll bite, who's there?

 

[DudeBro]

I'll bite, who's there?

Lol oh man it's too early, It took me a minute to get that.

 

[DudeBro]

BTW just an update on my situation, I've finally convinced the dealer to replace the carrier. After 3 test drives and them trying to lie to me twice, the manager finally told me they'd throw a new carrier at it and see if that fixes it. And this is the third dealer I've taken it to. It's taken me almost a year trying to convince someone there's a problem. I don't understand why they couldn't just open it up and diagnose the problem properly in the first place. Anyways, the part is supposed to arrive Friday so I hope once they do finally take apart the axle they don't find more damage. My plan is to toss out the new carrier once I can confirm the rest of the axle isn't damaged and put a locker in it. I don't feel like dealing with this same problem all over again as other people seem to be having. Anyone got any recommendations on what locker to get? I don't really care for ARB. I'd get an ox locker with an electronic actuator, but I'm not sure if they make one for this axle yet.

 

[basinite]

It definitely gets worse over time. Mine started as a single "knock" when accelerating out of coasting. By the time I finally managed to convince the dealer to do something about it, it sounded like an old roller coaster climbing a hill when driving down the road. And it's definitely much louder on cold days. Another thing I noticed was that my tires would chirp when slowly turning like backing out of a parking spot.

Thanks for the reply.

You'd think with all the issues, there would be a recall. This is probably my greatest concern with my Jeep. It is my Daily Driver and I would be screwed if it was in the shop.

My plan of action has been frequent oil changes in my rear differential using Royal Purple Synthetic. I use my Jeep hard on weekends and the LSD gets abused sometimes. So far no issues, but with all the stories on here, sounds like its a "role of the dice".

Thanks again.

 

[Mikeblue jl]

BTW just an update on my situation, I've finally convinced the dealer to replace the carrier. After 3 test drives and them trying to lie to me twice, the manager finally told me they'd throw a new carrier at it and see if that fixes it. And this is the third dealer I've taken it to. It's taken me almost a year trying to convince someone there's a problem. I don't understand why they couldn't just open it up and diagnose the problem properly in the first place. Anyways, the part is supposed to arrive Friday so I hope once they do finally take apart the axle they don't find more damage. My plan is to toss out the new carrier once I can confirm the rest of the axle isn't damaged and put a locker in it. I don't feel like dealing with this same problem all over again as other people seem to be having. Anyone got any recommendations on what locker to get? I don't really care for ARB. I'd get an ox locker with an electronic actuator, but I'm not sure if they make one for this axle yet.

I would love to know also if anyone else has a locker out for these. When I had mine replaced the only option for a locker was ARB. My whole axle was replaced but want to change it to a locker and regear when there are other options.

 

[DudeBro]

You'd think with all the issues, there would be a recall. This is probably my greatest concern with my Jeep. It is my Daily Driver and I would be screwed if it was in the shop.

You'd think but I'm sure right now it's probably much cheaper for them to just keep repairing the axles than issue a recall. Car companies would let people die driving defective vehicles if the settlements are cheaper than ordering a recall. It also seems like they may just not have an actual fix for it yet considering people are still having issues after getting it repaired multiple times. My jeep is also my daily driver so I'm hoping to get mine back soon.

I'm thinking if the oil gets replaced right away it might prevent the problem. Thinking back on everything it does seem like Dana screwed up and didnt put any or enough friction modifier in the oil and that caused the clutch packs to wear out prematurely. I'd imagine once those wear out that's when things start falling apart and grinding inside the axle housing which is why some people were seeing parts broken or chewed up. I had also stuck some royal purple in my axles after the second time taking it to the dealer and that made the chirping go away. Unfortunately for me I think the damage was already done.

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