Well, I found 3 pieces of a clip and a bunch of metallic shavings stuck to the magnet. I didn't notice anything abnormal about the gears, so I cleaned it out and buttoned it up. From what I hear, these clips serve no mechanical purpose. My truck has 74,000 miles on it so warranty work is not an option.

Should I just drive it and hope for the best? I bought the truck with 54,000 miles on it, so who knows how long these clips have been broken.

 

open it back up and pull the remaining clips out. There are 4 total. If you drive any further, you run a high risk of the remaining clips falling and destroying your gears.

 

I've been wondering what mine are like (broken or not). I thought the rear end started making noise when this happened. I'll have to check it out one day.

 

do yourself a favor. go out and buy a detroit trutrack or auburn lsd. swap that with the POS stock lsd. and be glad you saved yourself well over a grand without having to buy an entire new differential housing, gears, lsd, etc.....

 

Unfortunately you're gambling a little more than the differential and gears. The damn clips have the potential of also destroying the axle housing. Good luck....

 

I've been looking for an excuse to get 4.56 and a locker. With 202,020 miles on her today, maybe I'll set her up for her first rear end oil change and see whats going on back there.

 

Jesus. 202k on stock oil. Take some pics of the oil and diff when you drop the pan I wanna see what it all looks like.

 

Well, with 200k+ I'm going to say that it'll be money well spent to freshen the old girl up with some new oil. Have you serviced the trans? Just curious...

 

its nothing short of a miracle your truck is still running dude. i've seen the way you run that thing...

 

Yes, the trans primary filter was changed for the first time at 192,000 miles when she was freshened up with a rebuild.