At 160K miles I lost my carrier bearings in my 2015 Ram 2500. It started out as a weak howling noise then got worse. Have you had the cover off and checked them?
Yet another reason I like my 98 2500 ...
I don't know what year they changed from the Dana 60 to the American Axle rears. I blew the rear in my 96 2500 V10 at 150K too though...
AAM change over happened in the 2003 model year ,
You're an animal
, I have 2 Dana 70';s , one has 230K miles in a truck I bought new. 2000 2500 4x4 , now I have the 98 2500 2wd that just rolled 212k , I bought it at 172k , unsure of history of the rear axle but it had a 5th bolted in it at one point and google earth told me the previous owner had an excavation company , but the truck still had it's factory installed shocks and exhaust system going by the date codes on them when I bought it and the rear sounds fine.
That said I had an early 2001 2500 2wd w/Dana 70 that had 328k on it when I bought it that was a farm hauling truck ... 1" thick steel plate welded across the frame rails and a gooseneck ball poking thru a hole in the bed ..., it howled when I got it and someone had changed bearings. I changed them out when I got it and the gears looked ugly, but it was a local use only for me so I just slammed in new bearings and drove it as is ... it howled less ... till I traded it in with 330K ...
