Changed rear diff fluid yesterday and found this laying in the bottom of the diff. Inspected everything the best I could without disassembly and couldn't find any additional damage or the source of this broken piece! Any ideas?

 

No clue... I clicked on this thread fully expecting to see a clutch pack retaining clip which is "not supposed to be an issue anymore"...

 

I'm on the second fluid change at 87,000km running Royal purple 75W140 and my warranty is good till 100,000. No other problems so far and the fluid looked fine. Hope it doesn't cav after the warranty is up!
Here is another of the other side: has what appears to be a gear tooth wear mark on the factory edge, and its slightly bent from being broken off.

 

Definitly looks like it got fed through the gears, no clue what it is.

 

Some of you mentioned it looked like a possible piece of a gear tooth, i have to agree because of its tapered shape.
The OP needs to find out if ther is any driveline slop, or noise coming from the differential.

When i changed the rear lube in mine, i pulled a full tablespoon of metal chips and shavings that looked like someone forgot to clean out the diff during/before assembly. The metal shavings looked like chips from a tapped threaded hole. With the HUGE quality issues at ZF manufacturing, it dosent surprise me one bit that we`re finding junk and metal chips inside these differentials.

Dodge NEEDS to STEP UP and do a quality audit on ZF manufacturing in georgia...!!!!
These differentials are PURELY JUNK...!!!!!!! (Dana rearends revisited all over again)
Thank you dodge, for your unreliable quality...!!! You will loose many customers...!

 

I just took both pictures and blew them up larger so i could see the piece better...
it looks like a piece of the metal bearing cage that keeps the bearing(s) together as a unit to me.
I think i`ll place my bet that he`s got a bearing comin apart somewhere.

By the looks of this guys mods, somehow i dont think i`m surpised that things might be coming apart...but i could be wrong.
Or, worse case scenerio, someone at ZF manufacturing tossed this piece in the diff before they closed it up. (disgruntled employee)

What do YOU guys think (???)

 

Thanks for the comments so far, It is most definitely not a piece of gear tooth, it (was) a flat tab, 5 of 6 sides are factory, the broken side is obvious. Visually inspected the diff without dis assembly and all looks as per. No unusual slop or noise, nor excess metal in the fluid just a very small amount of sludge on magnet. Fluid looked brand new(still transparent purple). No marks on any of the gear faces that would indicate this piece went through it.
I first changed the fluid at 40,000km (nothing in diff at that time) and now again at 87,000 with Royal Purple Maxgear 75W140.

I plan on taking it to the dealer for the paper trail- but I have zero trust in their mechanical ability. They managed to screw up a tierod replacement so bad they had the truck for 3 days. Gave it back to me with the alignment toed out 2.5" They will take my vehicle for the whole day, test drive it once and deem it serviceable, especially since there is no unusual noise.
I'm better off taking it to a driveline shop for an inspection/quote then presenting that to the dealer.

 

With an '09 he's got an AAM rear axle. Aside from the LSD clutch pack retaining clip issue, the AAMs are actually pretty stout units, I'd venture to say as stout as a Dana of comparable size.

AAMs are actually now in use in a lot of GM trucks, especially the larger ones, which I think may be a reason Dodge went went ZF which I'll have to agree with you, BAD MOVE.

The only real downside I've found in an AAM rear (LSD aside) is that the aftermarket support isn't nearly what there is for Dana. I mean try finding an e-locker for ANY AAM differential...

 

YUP, i agree, dont even bother going to the dealer unless you have any warranty left to use. They`re not qualified in my opinion.
Definately take it to a "KNOWN good" diff shop, you`ll likely have a far better chance of getting it fixed & done right the first time.

 

Which is most likely why after 09, you dont get the lifetime driveline warranty.
Dodge KNOWS they made a big mistake...! But WE THE BUYER, pay for that mistake.
If dodge thinks it can ignore their quality issues, they`ll loose bigtime. (not like they havent done THAT before)