Well, I have 98K+ miles on the truck, and noticed a "clunk" when letting out the clutch from a stop a while ago, and it doesn't seem to be getting any worse, but since I purchased the extended to 100K warranty they offered, I'm getting it looked at next tuesday at the dealer I bought it from.
I did notice this afternoon that the area around the pinion seal on the rear diff is wet, but a check of the level inside is good--no lack of lube. I put the rear wheels up on a jack to check the yoke and u-joints and they all seem tight, but I did notice what I considered to be an excess amount of play in the gears, and a clunk when I rotated the wheels and driveline back anf forth.
I'll let everyone know what they found out. Seems like these American axles have their woes.
I looked through the FSM last weekend pertaining to this and they called out a possible bearing problem----we'll see what they find.

 

mkay.