My recent work has been to chase down the source of a peculiar vibration that would happen 'sometimes' at low speeds while accelerating from a stop, or coming out of a slow, sharp turn. If you let up on the gas, or pressed harder it would go away. As the rear differential was seen to be leaking and soaked the front bushings, I suspected the differential fluid had degraded those bushings, and was the likely cause of the vibration. I pulled the differential and changed all three seals, and all three bushings it's supported from. Yes, the special tools were expensive. In handling the drive shaft it also seemed the CV joint at the back didn't move very smoothly, and the grease had degraded to a very liquid-y consistency, so I replaced that as well. And of course because I was down there I did the center support bearing and the front flex disk. I did mark all the drive shaft parts orientation to each other and the flanges front and back, though the rear kinda went out the window because of installing a new CV back there. Sadly, after all that, the original vibration is still there, though not as frequent, and it's been joined by a new vibration, which is even stranger than the first. The new vibration comes and goes at speeds between 40-60mph, is at a much higher frequency that doesn't seem to change with road speed, and is very cyclic in nature. It will fade in and out, and only seems to do it on smooth roads. At the same time as the other work was performed I rotated the tires, and installed a tire plug to fix a slow leak...That may have something to do with it(?).



As for the transfer case, it is also leaking, with the mounting bushing very well soaked as well. I do not suspect the transmission as it was rebuilt in 2018. A longer front drive shaft was also installed at this time. When I pull the transfer case I'll replace all three seals, the drive chain, and the mount bushing. To replace the rear output shaft seal I will need to remove the flange, which brings me to my original post.


Thank you very much for responding to this query. Having everything needed beforhand is very important to minimizing the time spent apart in the garage!