Hey guys, you may remember me from the cluster issue i had with my '03 Ram 1500 reg cab. Welp i'm back again with another issue. I bought this car with 25k miles on it, since then i've put literally 4000 miles on it. I noticed a slight humming/whining sound about 2 weeks ago. I figured it was the rear wheel bearings in the rear and would have them changed out by a friend. Needless to say, i didn't (stupid me). So i brought it to my buddy an he checked the fluid in the rear diff. He said he found TONS of metal shavings and chips in the fluid, now this was unacceptable being i just bought this car 3 1/2 months ago with such low mileage.

this sound got worse as the days went on until this sunday as i was driving all i heard was a loud high pitched whine/grind noise from the rear. i finally Brought it to the dealership to have it checked out, turns out all the bearings in the rear as well as the spider gear were worn to hell, the mechanic was even surprised i was able to drive it. Needless to say, it's been fixed (no i did NOT pay dealer cost etc, this was a pre-existing problem when they sol the car that got worse over time)

Now all that aside i just wanna know this. I drive a V6, 2wd pick up. I don't do ANY hauling/towing, i drive it nice, i don't beat the crap out of it, ONCE in a while i'll race a friend on a straight away, but never off the line where it would torque badly, i treat this truck like gold. so WHAT could have caused this? and how could i avoid having this happen again in the future? was it just a fluke? i had an 89 oldsmobile delta 88 with 155,000 miles on it, when we opened the diff it looked almost new, so i'm judt wondering if this could have been a fluke or something.

Thanks guys, help a brotha out.

 

oem LSD?

 

Wow, seven years old and only 29K! Don't know how you got the dealer to eat that one.

 

yes, the car is completely OEM, no modifications. could it be the dreaded C-Clip problem?

hahaha, we talked to them for a while, one of the only dealers i've dealt with that didn't try to screw me yet

 

75k my carrier bearing went, not my fault just wear on the bearing i took it as a sign to get better gears....my guy told me he's seen alot of mopars with 9.25s have carrier bearings go....the inside races on mine were chewed and cracked said if i hadnt got it when i did it could have been a whole new axle diff and all....

 

Yep the filings found in fluid was what was left of your "C-Clip(s)" after falling out and getting chewed up by (and chewing up) your ring and pinion.

Mileage has no bearing, once one falls out, it don't take long to do damage...

 

Can you tell us more about the truck? 2wd? LSD? Why does it have such low mileage? You have half what I do and I thought I had low mileage. Was there additional contamination besides metal, such as water? If it is a OEM LSD unit than I agree with Hammer with it being the dreaded clip failure.

 

It's a 2003 Ram 1500 Pick up ST. 8 foot bed, 2WD. bought it with 25,500 miles on it. Truck was only used (allegedy) "as a company lease car" to travel between dealerships, thus the low mileage.

i say allegedly because it did come with a bed liner, low and behold underneath was pretty scratched up, so i don't know. Either way everything inside is mint condition and the engine's in pretty good clean shape.

No contamination except metal, no water or rust. Everything is stock, OEM LSD

 

Probably as previously stated clip broke loose and the gears ate it.

 

I just got mine redone with detroit tru trac posi, and all new bearings and labor for $1200. My mechanic thinks that they probably messed up at the factory and put too much load on the carrier bearings. He does 2-3 dodges a week all for the same problem. However, the stock LSD is its own problem with the clutch pack clips. Just replace it with a aftermarket, PERIOD. Just hope your gears are fine, nothing beats the OEM gear set.