Well, I spent an evening removing wheels and brake calipers to find....nothing. Pretty much like everyone said, it's the normal differential operation sound. I guess I just never really hit the brakes hard to notice this noise - but it is repeatable each time. Caliper was clean, pads were fine. Moving on!
While I was in there, I went ahead and removed the sway bar like people raved about. I guess my ass is too padded to notice a difference. Felt pretty much the same to me. What was I to be looking for? Maybe I counteracted some of it, because at the same time I bumped the rear-only shocks up one notch, as I do often carry heavy loads of firewood in the box and on a trailer.
Additionally, I remove the seatbelt limiter (so easy!). Definitely appreciate all the help on this forum!!! Because of y'all, I've done:
-Cut oil filter hole
-Order Trigger Noise Shield
-Adjust shocks
-Learn best way to remove rear brake
-Change differential oil to heavier wt
-Seat belt chime disable.
Look forward to wasting more money on real upgrades!!
Thanks all!