Pinion Flange/Driveshaft Pushing into Diff ~Pls Help

[carpenterkyle89]

2013 Camaro SS 1LE (stock af) So I am kind of lost here besides I kinda see what the problem is. Basically I was cruising about 80 down the hwy when I heard the slightest little pop. No other noise at all till I came to about 10-15 mph & heard a slight grinding almost sounding like a brake pad was locked up.

Towed her home & got to looking at everything in the rear after jacking her up. Noticed a little wiggle/play on rear driver side cv axle where it goes into differential. Took all that apart, got it out so I could spin rotor from other side. Also had brake calipers off to eliminate stuck brake pad possibility. I began turning rotors by hand & it wouldn’t go forward without force, but spun freely in reverse. That’s when I crawled under to see what the driveshaft was doing during all of this. And as you can hopefully see in the video, the driveshaft input part (pinion flange I think) that goes into the differential is pushing against the housing of differential when I spin forward but spins freely in reverse.

Sorry for so much you had to read but I am pretty mechanically inclined & don’t know where to go from here besides take the diff out & take it to a rear end shop. But still I’d like to go there with a bit of sense of what’s goin on/what happened. Thanks in advance.

https://youtube.com/shorts/htTrzOJea...nQMMxvQTHK2YIB

[cawengr]

Looks like the pinion is moving in and out of the housing by about 1/8” this tells me your pinion bearing is toast

[Pkeen]

Could possibly be the pinion nut cracked and backed off ,maby the pop you heard.

[Pkeen]

Have you found the problem yet?