While wheeling tonight, I had the truck off camber and one rear tire was stuffed, the other was almost in the air, just enough to not grab anything to lock in my Torsen diff.

I gassed it, and realized I wasnt going anywhere, but I heard a ratcheting/clicking noise coming from back there...Is that normal?

After I got back to flat ground, I powerbraked on some dirt and both tires DID spin, so it appears to be working alright.


For those of you who dont know, the Torsen is a worm gear driven limited slip diff in the Level 2 Rangers.

 

OOOOOOHHHH That sounds bad. But i dont know much about that LS DIFF

 

are you sure it wasn't just a CV shaft clicking?? or possibly something rubbing against a Ujoint of maybe a tire? like a flare? (lol...flares are from personal eperience). idk what your issue is. I'd even say something like what you were hearing may be the gears doing their job in that limited slip unit.

 

I heard the same thing when i was in the snow about 2 years ago and havent had a problem since

 

Yeah but you've got a clutch pack LSD. It works differently then a torsen.


And Shane, it may have been a tire against a flare. I had tire-flare contact hardcore. Amazingly I never threw a fender flare...

 

I have a LS read and if I get one wheel on ice or just not enough weight on it, it clicks like that when the wheel spins. It's been like that for as long as I can remember and no damage has come from it so far.

I just assume that the LS is trying to kick in because of the free wheel, but as it's NOT a locker, it still has the 1 wheel spinning.

 

mine always clicks when i shift on the fly, but when im at a stop it never has.

 

For clarification the noise came when I was in 2wd.
4WD is out of the equation for now.

I'm going to try to jack up one wheel and spin it, and see if the clicking comes back. If it doesnt, maybe it was some tire rub (which wouldnt make sense because the stuffed wheel didnt move.....

 

Wow, I emailed Torsen, and they've responded within an hour! That's surprising to say the least.

They said a clicking noise isnt normal, but a failure usually completely seizes the rear end.

 

I have this horrible feeling Chuck will be posting and voiceing his opinion on the Torsen soon...



I'm puzzled as to what's wrong with your truck.

 

I'm aware of his opinion on the Torsen, lol.

 

The diff is still doing its job, I went into some loose stuff and it did still lock in.

 

its horrible your gonna have to crate up your axle and ship it to me.... lol

 

Yeah the way a torsen works, there's not much separating good working order and a complete failure. There's not much room to spare in that case! My money would be more on some sort of contact... i.e. something on the driveshaft or a tire hitting a fender or something along those lines more than your torsen unit acting up.

 

Torsen said they've heard of clicking, but that's the noise of a retainer pin backing out of it's housing, which leads to a complete failure. I drove probably 6 miles on the trail listening the whole way, and 20 miles on the freeway, and never heard any clicking again. Went to some flatspots and did a powerbrake and both tires were locked in.

Oh and Zach, you're second in line for my axle! My dad wants to steal it for his Jeep.

 

Do you have the Al dshaft? VERY commmon for that to rub the gas tank skid at stuff. Check for a circular mark around the dshaft.

 

I dont think It's aluminum. It's rusty and it's a Spicer. Are all ranger driveshafts spicers?

 

I bet you were just rubbing something.

 

Steel shafts do the same thing...

 

Kev, I've got a 38,000 mile Torsen from my '05 L2 axle that'll be for sale soon...

 

U joints were on both, my steel shaft is Spicer, Al is Ford. Could also have been a U joint making that noise, how many miles on them? Being at full stuff is gonna make a lot of things run at "other than normal" angles, possibly resulting in strange noises.
Al are more common to rub as they are a wider diameter. I would not worry about it, could always drop the cover if you're concerend.

 

I'm still under warranty. 24k miles.If it's making death noises it's gonna go soon, because I'm moving in a week to a new house thats surrounded by trails. I'm probably imagining things.

Thanks for al lthe posts guys.

 

click click click click...... the noise ur hearing is the screw loose in your head.





i kid i kid.....