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Rear rotational knock from differential at low speeds.

Beachcomber

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****** Edited for clarity and updated specifics. I realized at 4 am I had mistyped and misspoken on several things******

So my 2018 JL sport has this noise at super slow speeds. I do have the Dana 44 with the anti spin set-up. Vehicle only has 83 miles on it and I stopped by the dealer after reading the other rear diff noise thread on here. They made me an appointment to bring it in next week and get it listened/looked at. But while I was at the dealership I decided to ask my super cool salesman about driving a few other new on the lot vehicles to see if same noise was heard. Well low and behold I had the opportunity to drive 11 new Jeeps. One of which was a 2020 Sahara that had just been pulled off the transport truck. Here’s the specific list of what was driven.
1. 2019 JL Sport S with base rear axle non 44 and 2.0 engine. (No rear noise)
2. 2020 JL Sport 2.0 all base stock axles non 44 and 3.6 engine. (No rear noise)
3. 2018 Jeep Sahara JLU with tow package and 44 and axle w/anti spin and 2.0 engine. (Yes in rear noise)
4. 2019 Rubicon JL, 2.0 engine. (Yes on rear noise)
5. 2019 JL Sport non S With tow package and Dana 44 rear and anti spin and the 3.6 engine. ( yes on rear noise)
6. 2018 JLU Rubicon Dana 44 front and rear. 3.6 engine. (Yes on rear noise)
7. 2018 JLU Rubicon Dana 44 front and rear w/ 2.0 eng. (Yes on rear noise)
8. 2020 JL Rubicon with Dana 44’s and 2.0 engine. (Yes on rear noise)
9. 2019 JLU Sahara with base axles non 44 rear w/2.0 engine. (No noise)
10. 2020 Sport base model non 44 rear and the 2.0 engine. (No noise)
11. 2020 JLU 2 with the obvious 44 axles and the 3.6. (yes on rear noise)

All vehicles had under 200 miles each and all were driven for 5 miles same route each time. All vehicles with the Dana 44 repeat had the slow rear rotational noise from rear axles. So we are either looking at something that is specific to JL’s or we’re looking at a future major recall from Chrysler. I had three different managers and one tech eventually ride along and listen and everyone was like, what the heck... we’ve never heard that before.

My personal 2018 Sport with the Dana 44 rear antispin/axle is an awesome vehicle and has no problems outside of the rear noise and it drives like a dream in 2H-4H and 4L. If this turns into an issue where I have to leave it for multiple weeks while parts are ordered and it’s repaired, like a new axle. I guarantee you I will lay the keys on the salesman’s desk and walk out and never buy another Jeep again. I am an Emergency Rescue first responder for the County and I have to have my vehicle in tip top shape 24-7 where we live and work and this situation will not be acceptable. Three of or guys on our west end team have new JL’s that were all recently purchased in the last 3 months, and we plan on turning them once again into high water rescue vehicles. We unfortunately go through vehicles every three years doing what we do and we can not be down one man at any particular time.

So my curiosity is, do we really have a major situation coming to thousands and thousands of JL owners or is this actually just a noise that has no real problem associated with it.
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bwright1818

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If I had to pick mine out of your list of test driven vehicles, it would definetly be number 5. Yes, I hear the noise you're talking about, like a thumping noise as I slow down and turn onto another road or driveway. It certainly does not sound like a good noise You cannot deny it's there.. Given the way my engine runs and sounds, the rear end noise has been small potatoes to me. I can't even imagine what they have mis-engineered THIS time. It's already the worst running, worst sounding engine I have ever owned and FCA will do NOTHING about it, except offer me free extended warranty. I can almost guarantee that, unless the the guts of the rear end are falling out on the ground, bouncing up and hitting elderly drivers in the face behind us, while we lose control of our vehicles and crash into a short bus, they are going to do nothing about the noise, too. I have not even dared to bother reporting it to my dealer, because FCA's lack of concern is so unbelievably madding that I can't take another round of BS. Thank you for reporting it here, though. Now I know I am not crazy about that, either. Good luck, buddy.
 

TrailTorque

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I guarantee you I will lay the keys on the salesman’s desk and walk out and never buy another Jeep again of any model.

I will default on the loan and proceed to take FCA to court and start the buy back campaign for us all in regards to this problem.
First I’d like to say thank you for your voluntary service.

Next I’d like to say, no you won’t lol
 

D60

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I'm a little skeptical OP. Not calling you a liar but I've never noticed this on my '19 Rubi.

It just seems odd they'd ALL have it.

It reminds me of the adage about if you don't have any friends, maybe the problem is you, etc. I have to wonder if you're not looking to find a problem that isn't there?

I wish I could be there to see your testing procedure and hear the noise myself and then see if my '19 does it. Absent that I don't have enough data to say you're wrong, but I'm just skeptical
 
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Beachcomber

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I'm a little skeptical OP. Not calling you a liar but I've never noticed this on my '19 Rubi.

It just seems odd they'd ALL have it.

It reminds me of the adage about if you don't have any friends, maybe the problem is you, etc. I have to wonder if you're not looking to find a problem that isn't there?

I wish I could be there to see your testing procedure and hear the noise myself and then see if my '19 does it. Absent that I don't have enough data to say you're wrong, but I'm just skeptical
Yes yours has it, I 100% guarantee it does. Goto a wide open paved parking lot and come to a complete stop in a safe drive-able area. Make sure your a/c and radio are off and as you very slowly start to roll at 2-5 mph you will hear it.
Me and two other friends with me have already gone to another dealership close to us first thing this morning and we test drove three 2019 JL Rubicons this morning and three 2020 JLU Rubicons and once again all of these vehicles had the same noise. This not a fluke. So, once again it’s either noise that is going to be usual for for the JLs or there will soon be a massive TSB then Recall issued.

There is zero chance in hell yours will not have that noise. I’ve owned nine different makes of wranglers in the past 30 years and my fifty year old ears are not failing as of yet, lol.
 

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Arterius2

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Yes yours has it, I 100% guarantee it does. Goto a wide open paved parking lot and come to a complete stop in a safe drive-able area. Make sure your a/c and radio are off and as you very slowly start to roll at 2-5 mph you will hear it.
Me and two other friends with me have already gone to another dealership close to us first thing this morning and we test drove three 2019 JL Rubicons this morning and three 2020 JLU Rubicons and once again all of these vehicles had the same noise. This not a fluke. So, once again it’s either noise that is going to be usual for for the JLs or there will soon be a massive TSB then Recall issued.
2018 Sahara here with D44 and anti-spin, I usually only hear a clunking sound when I slow down to around 2-5 mph right before coming to stop at a red light. The sound I hear is like a one or two knocks in quick concession, almost like slack in the drive shaft u joint or that clunk it makes when you shift from Park to Drive on a cold start.
 
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Beachcomber

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2018 Sahara here with D44 and anti-spin, I usually only hear a clunking sound when I slow down to around 2-5 mph right before coming to stop at a ref light. The sound I hear is like a quick one or two knocks in quick concession, almost like slack in the drive shaft u joint or that clunk it makes when you shift from Park to Drive on a cold start.
Yes that is the noise!!! We are about to jack up completely two of our vehicles and video tape the noise as we roll the rear wheels by hand. It’s extremely obvious doing it by this method. Will reply back shortly. We are trying to put together a very detailed portfolio of all our personal findings off and online and we will get with FCA heads when we have it in place.
 

D60

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He had stated he already read that thread. It seems to have disappeared with an apparent edit to Post #1

Here's the thing: if they ALL do it, ya know what 99% of dealerships and definitely FCA will say? NORMAL.

I'm not saying it is normal but until there are numerous catastrophic failures, they're simply going to "reason" it's supposed to be like that 'cause, after all, they all do it.

Still, let's be careful about Chicken Little syndrome here, I'm not sure there's a reason to panic

I wasn't sure I have the noise and haven't been able to check yet, but I now know I must because, well, OP told me I do. I read it on the internet so it's true! ;)
 

FirecrackerRedJLU

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First I’d like to say thank you for your voluntary service.

Next I’d like to say, no you won’t lol
Exactly my thoughts also... especially when fca pays for the loaner anyways and you get a brand new rear axle assembly as a whole. Might be down max 2-4 days depending on order of axle
 

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Carlton

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I've owned two JLUR and haven't heard it on either, or the ones I test drove.

That being said, test driving 11 wranglers one day and going to test more another is quite frankly nuts and a waste of time.
 

bwright1818

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While the OP may be a little over the top by some standards, I admire his perseverance. D60 is right in his second post; they will say it's normal. If everyone's bumper fell off at 60 mph, FCA would say that was normal, too.
 

Wabujitsu

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My 58-year-old ears detect no knock or other noise from my 2018 Sport LSD rear. With AC and radio off, windows opened or closed. Nothing. Nada. And for decades I ALWAYS listen closely to my vehicles.

My mechanic has also driven my vehicle. He hears nothing too.

Perhaps I got lucky with a one-off.
 
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Beachcomber

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From what we have observed in the past two days is that this 2-5 mph clicking rotational noise is only on the Dana 44 rears. It’s definitely inside the pumpkin. But once again you only hear it at extremely slow speeds. You will not hear any of it at highway speeds. We have only begun to research this issue because of our team wanting to replace an entire fleet of 10 vehicles with new wranglers and we need to ensure these vehicles have a solid platform, for what we do.
 
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Beachcomber

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And to add another point of why this noise became apparent to us is because 90% of the time we are driving 5mph or less down alleyways or on sandy beaches and or through low lying marsh wetlands.
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