Long story short, was going to change the diff fluid tonight (38k miles) Was a mess with all the RTV and such, anyway sealed it back up, and got the urge to read on here and read tons of stuff about these broken c-clips, so couldnt help it, cracked the damn thing open again (luckily before i put the $60 fluid in it) I had to inspect again for piece of mind, where exactly are the clips, are mine broke? There was a good amount of sludge/crap at the bottom of the magnet, like after you drop a tranny pan, but more... i didnt see any metal chunks.. However i did notice this one lose piece of something in one of these holes..? I took a picture of it, is it anything to worry about? Also can i spray brake cleaner on the gears and such to further clean? Can i move the thing 20-30 feet or so without fluid? I started this 5 hours ago and now its half way in my damn garage and it wont close (truck is too big) Help is much appreciated ! id like to get to bed sometime to tonight and know what the hek is going on with this..

 

looks like its being driven to the driveway tonight without fluid, as im out of options and on the verge of putting the POS up for sale, as i read more and more about these wonderful trucks, this is my first and probably last dodge, no wonder i got it so cheap the resale is junk, just like the truck

 

Eh not sure what the loose bit is.. I'm new to the Ram scene and haven't had mine apart yet. The c-clips are in the center there, they hold the axle ends into the diff. On the first picture if you took that verticle bar on the inside there out, you could then push the axles in slightly and push the c-clips off. If they were broken you would know.

Edit: I've driven my Camaro about 20 feet without fluid.. well I pushed it.. I didn't want to start it and put the pressure on the gears. But definitely don't drive it any distance without fluid!!

 

I drove it forward about ten feet it should be fine I would imagine. It has a tiny bit of fluid on the actual gears. I still am really confused about these c clips and where they are...? The lose piece in mine sure looks like sone other pix I've seen. But I spun the wheels and tried to yank that thing out but couldn't get it out

 

I did some reading on the issue for my benefit to help and because I have the LSD.. From your pictures.. that doesn't look like any limited slip diff I've ever seen. Looks like an open diff to me. Are you able to spin just one tire when its jacked up or do they both turn the SAME direction?

The reason I ask is if its not a LSD.. then you don't even have the retaining clips they are talking about. The clips that break are on the inside of the carrier there and they hold the clutch packs inside of it together.

If your clips were broken, there would be bits of them in the bottom or stuck to the magnet of the cover.

 

It's 3:92 w/LSD. I've done tons of reading as well. It looks the same as all others with stock LSD. I'm thinking the lose piece if some sort of piece of clip or something

 

Well if you didn't see any bits floating around I'd assume you're all good to go. It looks like the clutches are behind the gears instead of in the center like an GM style (thats what I am used to)

BTW that loose piece is definitely one of the retaining clips

Here is what they look like. http://www.off-roadweb.com/tech/1011.../photo_17.html

 

Yea hopefully I can get it out somehow who knows where the rest is. Hopefully someone can chime in before the morning so I can get the thing together. I still have no clear idea or pix of where exactly these 4 clips are

 

I'm probably going to take mine out this spring and replace the clips.. I heard a rumor of heavier duty ones. It seems pretty straight forward. It apparently uses some threaded in deals instead of shims to adjust the carrier left to right. So you might have to loosen one of those to pop it out, but my GM ones just need a little leverage to pop the carrier out. The rebuild its self looks like an hour job at most.

These trucks do seem to have a lot of little issues, but I really love mine and it was a steal so its worth it.

 

Def an LSD. - that's a retaining clip - get it out before it does harm. As for repair - search this forum, lots of comments - I did mine about 2 months ago - time consuming and you need to buy some mopar tools or make them, not difficult just time - setting the carrier preload was fun too.

Good luck.