Dude, your wife said you could get a 2500!?!? If my wife said that I would have sold my truck in a heartbeat and got a good 2500 around here for $16,000.

 

Hello, I had just pulled my diff cover to drain the gear oil and change it. To my surprise I found pieces of metal and massive amount of metal shavings... my question is, how long could the rear end last with out these clips in there? And what exactly do they do?

 

Did you also find "sparklies" in the oil??
By "sparklies" i mean, fine glittering suspended aluminium particles floating in the oil?
If you did, you MUST drain and completely clean the entire axle.
Not just the diff pan.....the axle tubes......the whole 9 yards.
This stuff will eat your bearings, that's if it hasn't already done so???
As for running without the clutch pack retainers.......I did for over 20 thousand miles, while I saved up for a DTT and a full rebuild.
One of the best mods I ever did to my Hemi was getting rid of that POS stock LSD. No more worry about a grenading rear end and possible serious safety issues. I really just don't know, how Dodge got away with this???
Hope this helps?
Al.