Hello everyone.
What I drive is:
1989 Dodge Dakota 3.9 2WD Automatic truck with an 8ft bed.

Tonight I cleaned out my rear diff (removed cover and made new gasket) and found some pretty large pieces of metal in there (view picture). I also saw that the large gear on the left side of the ring had somehow been scratching the inside of the cover and the teeth have worn down a bit. The pinion seemed fine but I couldn't see the smaller gears well so I was not able to determine where the chunks came from.
Truck runs fine but has always had a loss of power going uphill and I'm wondering if this is related? Gas mileage is surprisingly good between 18-20 MPG depending on how I drive.

Do you suggest I rebuild the rear, get a new one or leave it alone?

Note: This is my only vehicle so I definitely need it running...I hope I didn't ef up the rear diff by cleaning it out and putting in new oil. It hadn't been done since I bought the truck about 4-5 years ago.

Your comments are appreciated.

 

Ouch, that doesn't look good. Since it's your only driver, I'd look for another rear end. In the meantime, Get a large ceramic magnet to catch the metal pieces floating around. Put t on the outside of the cover to one side of the ring gear.

 

Ok I will buy that today after work.
Thank you very much!