Hello all from the 2004 Grand Excursion in Quad Cities Iowa where steam is king! Road the MILW-261 steamer, got great shots of it along with the IC&E and my son made the paper in the commentary section. My son Michael has a new label... "Rail Junkie"!

Now my reason for writing is Im having rear diff problems, a howl from the diff is getting fairly loud in my opinion and tonight I pulled the cover off in the hotel parking lot to inspect the gear teeth and look for metal shavings. I found nothing out of the norm, good heal pattern in the center and no flaking spalling or other issues. With my inspection light I looked into the inboard pinion bearing and it has a smooth surface on the outer race and none of the rollers appear to be bad but I cant see that far into the bearing itself. Now what has me puzzled is the noise is only heard during drive and not coast, has no change in corners and when the brakes are lightly applied under drive power. No metal shavings are present except the few thin ones that are stuck to the magnet and no evidence of water or contamination. I would imagine this is a "preloaded" meaning shimmed carrier bearing diff (didnt pull caps) and if this is the case the noise would change and follow input power however it appears to have about 0.05" of play and turns smooth by hand.

Im down here until monday afternoon when I start making my way back to Minneapolis and Im a little concerned that this is only going to get worse. US hwy 52 has alot of steep hills, 2 of them require full throttle in 4th no OD and I have alot of video gear in the trunk, needless to say this is alot of load to pull up an 8% grade for a mile and a half not to mention my 225 pound kid, myself and a Sony 3/4 EFP deck and camera plus clothes.

How forgiving is the Volvo rear axle? I know its pretty stout for a passenger car axle however I dont feel like swapping it out on the side of a road should something go wrong.

Just looking for advice or experience really here.

Brandon-988