Car maintenance - how to determine the sound of the drive axle?

The sound of the drive axle is mainly caused by abnormal or damaged gear clearance and bearing failure.

① The sound of excessive gear mesh clearance. When the car abruptly reduces fuel while driving, it produces a "choked, choked" sound that resembles a gear collision, which proves that the sound is caused by excessive gear clearance in the drive axle.

② The sound of gear mesh clearance being too small. This kind of sound is a "whining" sound made when the vehicle speed increases, and it is also like the "howling" sound of a fire truck. When the speed slows down, the sound also disappears, which is mostly caused by the small clearance between the gears of the drive axle.

③ When driving in gear, there is a noise from the drive axle, but when coasting in neutral, the noise decreases or disappears. The fault of this sound is that the clearance between the gear pairs of the drive axle is too large, and some gear teeth are damaged or broken.

④ When driving in gear, there is a noise from the drive axle, but when coasting in neutral, although the noise is reduced, it does not disappear. This kind of noise is mostly caused by loose, damaged, or improperly adjusted bearings in the drive axle.

⑤ The car performs well when driving in a straight line, but there is noise from the drive axle when turning. This type of turning noise is caused by wear and increased clearance between the differential planetary gears, half shaft gears, washers, half shaft gear keyway, and half shaft key teeth of the drive axle, as well as damage that leads to the car making noise during turning.

⑥ When driving at medium to high speeds, the drive axle makes a "gurgling, gurgling" sound. This sound is caused by unequal meshing clearance between the active conical teeth (small eight wheel) and the driven conical teeth (large eight wheel), with some meshing positions having too small clearance and others having too large clearance, as well as loose bearing covers or bearing adjustment nuts on both sides of the drive axle.