Jeep Grand Cherokee Loud Noise in Rear

tlbrwb

I have a 1994 grand cherokee laredo that developed a loud noise in the rear axle area. The faster you go the louder it gets. When putting the 4x4 selector in "part-time", the noise all but stops. Has anyone experienced this or have a solution to this problem. Thank you.


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89cherokeenoob

This is just my guess, but I think your spider gear in the rear axle is going bad. One question for ya... Did you get a flat with mud tires on, and if so did you use the spare tire, if so was that spare tire designed for street use?

bumpyroad

Here is my experience:

I have been driving my 1998 Grand Cherokee for about 14 months with increasing road noise. I knew it was my rear differential going out, but figured I would hold on as long as I could due to the expense on my Jeep that has over 170k miles on it. Well in December 2007 my front pinion was sheared while driving down the highway. I guess I was lucky because it didn't explode. When I took it to get it fixed I learned that I had some special, rarer version of the differentials. They wanted to charge me $1500 for a used (100k + miles) one. I also knew I needed a new rear one, and since I could get along without the front one I just had them disconnect it from the transfer case. Well, 30 days later my rear went out. I took it in to have it fixed. Again, due to cost I was hoping to have just the rear fixed now and wait a couple of months to get the front fixed. It turns out, even though the primary torque is on the rear axle, the Jeep was not intended to work without the front axle. Thus driving only on the rear axle shortens the life to about 30 days. The company supplying the rebuilt rear end won't even sell the rear end alone without voiding any warranty. The expert on the phone even told me what happened before he knew that I had been driving on just the rear for about 30 days.

In your case, the noise probably stops because you are sharing the torque between the front and rear differentials.

By the way, the total cost of replacing both differentials with essentially new ones, including replacing my rotors and axles at the same time was around $5800.

mledford

turn left rear axle noise ; come to find out chrysler doesnt even service them ;they pull them out and put a new one in (axle) to many parts -clutches - pinions -bearings- seals; 60 miles left on warranty.

schimmey

I started hearing grinding noises from my 1999 Jeep Grand Cherokee. I took it to a mechanic and found out that my rear differential was damaged and my axle had to be replaced. The mechanic told me that the plug was missing from the differential fluid. 2 weeks prior I had gotten my oil changed and fluid checked which is when the plug must have been removed. The oil change place is refusing to accept responsibility for my damage ($1200.00) because at the same time I also had to have the front axle replaced. The owner is claiming that because the metal parts I showed him were not blue showing heat damage and the fact that the front was worn the fluid missing the rear would have needed replaceing anyways. He also said he talked to a Chrysler mechanics that said the front and rear issue is normal for Jeeps with 160,000 miles like mine has. I plan on going to small claims court and I am working on a defense .. any words of wisdom/suggestions would be appreciated.

gwr3

I have a 2002 Grand Cherokee Outlander w/ quadra trac 4wd and when in a low speed (15 mph or less) turn I am getting a vibration/grinding noise from the rear end. Any thoughts appreciated.

pjz12244

I have just experienced the exact same problem on my '01 GC...did you find any solutions to this or have it checked out?

tuggajb

how is the oil in the rear end? could be a bad spider inside rear end other could be bad wheel bering
does it do the noise when you turn eather way?

gwr3

I took the GC to a mechanic I trust (has been working on my '02 T-Bird for 4 years) and after disconnecting the front drive-shaft from the AWD he isolated the problem to the rear end. Oil, was fine. It was a combination of problems in the rear-end so since he had to tear down most of the rear, I had an entire rebuild done (Jeep/MOPAR sells the parts as a kit for the rear-end rebuild ~1K). Problem solved.

gmartens

I have a 2002 jeep grande cherokee with 125000km, can someone please help me!! I have a loud thud noise in the rear when I am driving through any ruff areas or pot holes, the jeep is sounding like a piece of junk! Its like it is bottoming out. This has been an on going noise but seems to be getting progressively worse. Talked to some other jeep owner that have spent $1000.'s at the garage trying to find out what was wrong with no luck. I just changes my shocks and no difffernece. Love to hear from anyone that has had the same problem. :mad: :confuse:

tuggajb

make sure that you have tightened the bottom shock bolt real tight

other item coulg be the top ball joint mount an top of you axel mounting (jeep has weard rear axel mounting setup)

loosenut

dear gw3;
i just got a gc laredo5.2,quadratrac....NASTY grinding noise in the rear-makes the noise louder when it gets hotter/longer i drive it..
--you mentioned this "rearend rebuild kit", how mutch for the kit,and what did it cost you to get it rebuilt?..
--this thing is really got me in a quandry,as the leather heated seats spoiled me this winter,but where it only gets ten miles to the gallon,it's killing me on gas!..
--it is a -98,with 120,xxx on it...body's straight..i got it for cheap,as kids got into the yard while it was waiting to get fixed,and broke out the passenger door glass,and the 1/4 glass..
replaced the door glass myself-$25 bucks--,and cut a piece of plexi for the 1/4 glass--kept the smow off the leather,at least,and doesn't look TOO bad..
--kbb says in ready to roll condition,it's worth 51,xxx,and low book is 1,800..
as handy as a jeep is,does it make sense to put two grand into a 1,000 car?

vettes4me

Check your over the axle exhaust pipe. Mine was doing the same thing. The pipe was hitting the undercarriage. don't know how it happened but that was it in my case.

firelake

Im getting a winding noise from somewhere in rear end or axle gets louder with accelartion and canot hear it when i let off the gas until about 10 miles an hour to a stop. noticed it over a year ago and it just keeps getting louder. Is there a bearing back there somewhere that needs to be replaced?

tuggajb

have them check your pinion bearings also ujoint on the drive Shaft will need a hoist to check will be easer on a pat lift hoist rather than drive on

cjsjeep

When I back out my Jeep Cherokee 4WD Sport or am driving uphill there's sort of a chirping noise towards the rear wheel area. The sound does not happen when driving down hill. The sound only occurs if the back wheels are being driven at an incline. It doesn't make noise any other time. It sounds kind of like a chirping noise. I just had the sway bar bushings replaced and the car aligned and that didn't seem to fix it.

tuggajb

sounds as if have dry bearings on the drive shaft

dbonneville

hi gmartens:

did you ever get to the bottom of the bottoming out issue? i have the exact same issue. I'll be going down a road and it will bottom out going in and out of a smooth scooped out depression, not even rough. i changed my shocks too, sway bars, tie rods, etc. no luck. i have to drive this jeep more gingerly than any other car i've ever had. someone suggested it might be the springs. it only happens when going into a dip, like at the maximum of where you might thing the springs would be compressed fully. i wonder if they are worn and they are just hitting themselves. i had brand new muffler, and remounted tranny last week - same exact problem with no difference of occurence. also, just had 4 new tires put on at that time. NO difference at all...

respond to this thread, or at doug dot bonneville at gmail dot com. Thanks!

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tuggajb

what year and model of jeep helps with knowing the suspension

dbonneville

Hi - it's a 2002 Grand Cherokee Laredo 4WD.

tuggajb

there is a part that looks like a ball joint on top of the rear axel i would check that out as if that is worn could make noise as if bottoming out

dbonneville

It seems to be focused on the front right wheel well. If I hit a speed bump just right, it's there. If I go down a smooth little dirt hill, even slowly, and get the body to bounce gently just so, I can get the same bang there too. It never seems like it's the back at.

tuggajb

here was some confusion as the header says (loud noise in rear) check the rubber shock mount washers if they have gotten hard could make clunk noise

cjsjeep

It turned out that the rear brakes had to be adjusted ... that fixed the noise. Thanks for all the replies.

vassar

'06 Jeep GC Laredo awd 51000 miles; have noise coming from rear end; mechanic says it sounds like propeller shaft in rear end, removed rear drive shaft and front yoke has a small hard spot in it while rear yoke has 2 hard spots in it. Dodge dealer wants $1170 Canadian for replacement shaft. with no guarantee that noise will be cured. Any thoughts would be appreciated

clarkkent

Some GC rear ends just whin. Mine has been doing it from about 75K to 195K. My mechanic says it's just a harmonic whin. No problem with the RE.

I just keep driving it and it keeps Whinning.

I'd rather have the RE do it than my wife!

mikemcbride315

check the sway bar mounts I came across one with same noise the frame was rusted out wher the sway bar mount meats the frame

robt7277

gmartens said:

I have a 2002 jeep grande cherokee with 125000km, can someone please help me!! I have a loud thud noise in the rear when I am driving through any ruff areas or pot holes, the jeep is sounding like a piece of junk! Its like it is bottoming out. This has been an on going noise but seems to be getting progressively worse. Talked to some other jeep owner that have spent $1000.'s at the garage trying to find out what was wrong with no luck. I just changes my shocks and no difffernece. Love to hear from anyone that has had the same problem. :mad: :confuse:

You probably got rid of the Jeep by now but I just came across this post... 
I had that same problem in my 01 WJ & fixed it. After about a year of going crazy. I crawled underneath & grabbed the rear axle & rocked it back & forth to finally pin point the noise. It came from the rear lower control arms bracket. Where the bolt holds the control arm in place it was egged out or oval rather than perfectly round to hold the bolt securely for the part. Therefore the new control arm that I installed over a year ago prior was doing nothing. Solution, I welded a 2"×2" 1/8" thick piece of steel on the bracket where the hole was egged out drilled out the correct size hole using a step up bit.
No more mysterious loud banging. 

robt7277

dbonneville said:

Hi - it's a 2002 Grand Cherokee Laredo 4WD.

dbonneville said:

hi gmartens: did you ever get to the bottom of the bottoming out issue? i have the exact same issue. I'll be going down a road and it will bottom out going in and out of a smooth scooped out depression, not even rough. i changed my shocks too, sway bars, tie rods, etc. no luck. i have to drive this jeep more gingerly than any other car i've ever had. someone suggested it might be the springs. it only happens when going into a dip, like at the maximum of where you might thing the springs would be compressed fully. i wonder if they are worn and they are just hitting themselves. i had brand new muffler, and remounted tranny last week - same exact problem with no difference of occurence. also, just had 4 new tires put on at that time. NO difference at all... respond to this thread, or at doug dot bonneville at gmail dot com. Thanks!

For what it's worth check my post/comment to Gmartens post. It sounds like you have the same problem.

robt7277

dbonneville said:

hi gmartens: did you ever get to the bottom of the bottoming out issue? i have the exact same issue. I'll be going down a road and it will bottom out going in and out of a smooth scooped out depression, not even rough. i changed my shocks too, sway bars, tie rods, etc. no luck. i have to drive this jeep more gingerly than any other car i've ever had. someone suggested it might be the springs. it only happens when going into a dip, like at the maximum of where you might thing the springs would be compressed fully. i wonder if they are worn and they are just hitting themselves. i had brand new muffler, and remounted tranny last week - same exact problem with no difference of occurence. also, just had 4 new tires put on at that time. NO difference at all... respond to this thread, or at doug dot bonneville at gmail dot com. Thanks!

For what it's worth check my post/comment to Gmartens post. It sounds like you have the same problem. 

Douglas6767

Hello, I have a 03 Laredo the rear control arms had broke and now I hear like grinding from underneath the car what could it be? Please help if possible! Thx

O1GRAND

I have a 2001 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited v8. I was at a red light, after the light turned green I could not go. The car was still running but would not move. A couple of nice gents tried to give me a push it still would not move. After waiting on a lost tow truck drive for awhile I went to try to move again. I tried reverse no movement. I tried drive & drive1 nothing. I tried drive2 a little movement so I tried drive again. It moved but with a grind. I managed to move a few feet into a parking lot to wait on a tow. The tow truck drivers was able to drive it onto the tow truck. Im now waiting on someone to look at it, but this happen when I was on my way home from another State and was wondering if someone could tell me what could be wrong....ps I took an uber back to my home state.

Eladams

Hello I have a 2013 Jeep Grand Cherokee Overland 91k miles purchasing off a used car lot.
When i pull off from 0-15 mph i hear a bumb noise changed one shock and its not the shock, we took it to a mechanic they seem to say its nothing but the service tech from the car lot even felt it, anyone know what it could be?
Rear end, drive shaft????

Eladams

Maybe even brake sticking, ive never owned a Jeep
We got it because it was 4wd
And we have bad weather in illinois