I'm changing the gear oil on the rear diff '98 Dakota 4x4 with 8.25" limited slip. Found this metal piece on the magnet. Bad news? The only thing weird I've noticed was when shifting in reverse from drive I'd hear a loud clunk noise sometimes but it's been doing that for a very long time (thought maybe it was old u-joints), and at freeway speeds was noticing a whining noise hence was going to change to 75W-140 today to see if that helped. Otherwise it seemed to be working great.

Some of the gears have some chunks taken out of them too. Attaching pics.

Thanks for any help/thoughts on this. Is it ok to keep driving? I do have alternate transportation. Just sunk a bunch of money into motor repair so this was a bummer to find, but better now than on the road far away somewhere.


Chipped gears

What is it? Found on magnet

Found on magnet

 

I was looking at a parts list, don't even see anything that looks like that metal piece could have come from. To be honest the other time (long ago, about 80k miles and many many years) I changed fluid I don't think I even checked the magnet, just cleaned up the cover and put it all back together. So it may have been there all along...

 

I've seen it, 3 times.

It's the clutch pack retainer. Item 10 in the attached pdf.

A VERY common failure in the limited slip differential.

 

Thanks. Do they break or just fall off? Is that what caused the gears to get all chipped like they are?

It looks like it's not easy to just pop back in without taking the whole thing apart. With the condition of the gears, would the easiest fix be to get a complete differential carrier assembly? How do I determine how many splines it has? I'm thinking it's 29 splines based on the little bit of searching I've done, so something like a Dana 84852 might work? It's a 5.2L, 4x4, SLT, 3.92 rear diff, 44RE transmission.

It's probably been broken like that for a while. What should I look out for if I put the cover back on, fill it with oil and keep driving till I can fix it later? Won't be doing any off road activities, it would just be around town and back and forth to work (25 miles round trip).

 

Some parts probably did go through the gears. The retainers are installed as a pair so there should be more parts, somewhere.

Is it making noise?

Basically you're looking at rebuilding the differential. You have the corporate 8.25 so you'd need a compatible carrier. It should be 29 splines.
Another option is to find a replacement at a boneyard. As long as the ratio, 3.92, is the same you could go with either the 8.25 or 9.25. Both have the same clutch pack retainer issue. You could also just put in an open differential.

It's been the only real issue I've had with my '00.

 

I think that was the only retainer clip that busted, and I found the piece that busted off in there. The other 3 clips still appear to be intact. I did find other pieces in there though that I'm not sure where they came from, attaching a pic. There were also the small chunks from the gears, and the oil looked like it had glitter in it.

I imagine the clutches are gone so maybe there isn't any stress on them anymore, so the other clips may not break.

The only noise I would hear before was a clunk when switching between drive to reverse, and a whining noise at freeway speeds. After the oil change to 75W-140 the whining noise appears to be gone, and still determining whether the clunk noise is better or not although it does seem quieter.

Had someone else changed the oil and not told me about the damage, I wouldn't think there was any problem at all. But since I know it's damaged like that will eventually fix it when I have a chance. I've watched some videos and still debating whether or not I want to tackle this repair myself.

8.25 rebuild jeep chrysler
trac-lok rebuild



Not sure where these pieces came from.

 

I talked to a guy at a local differential repair shop, he said those tab looking metal pieces probably broke off from the clutch plate tabs that the retainer clip slips over.

 

Agree with the above. I never noticed any problems with mine either and only found out changing the oil. Some clunk in the driveline is normal. The whining noise could be a bearing going but since you changed the oil and it's quieted down just keep an ear out for it.

 

Does anyone KNOW if the small clips are just an assembly aid (to locate parts for assembly) or functional in use?
Could one assemble the unit and then pull the clips to prevent problems?