Longbox55,
I'm quite ignorant when it comes to cars (I'm trying to learn, but I'm not there yet) and so I can only try to repeat the guy's explanation - he said something to the extent of that he noticed that the pinion was worn to the point where it was nearly all the way out when he changed my u-joint and thought that might be the cause of my noise issues (it makes a pretty bad grinding noise when you let off the gas at any speed). That and the engine is pretty much screaming once you get it up to any of the local speed limits (45-55 in most of my area) so a gear change would be really nice for the sake of keeping the engine going.
