I have not see much info reguarding a cheap solution for us guys with no factory warranty to deal with the dreaded clutch pack retaining clip issues (or mislabeled as the c clip issue) for the 9.25 LSD. But after talking with another member on the board, I believe the cheapest solution to deal with this problem is the following:

I plan on replacing the clutch pack retaining clips with the improved (thicker I believe) clips part number 05183722AB (not AA, as these are the weak clips that fail). My local dealer has them for less than $10 for the pack of 4. I do not have the cash to upgrade to an aftermarket diff, so I would rather replace the clips every rear axle oil change if I have to.

The procedure as I understand it should be:
remove the rear brakes
remove the diff cover and drain oil
remove the pinion pin (unbolt it 1st of course)
slide axles in to get to and remove the axle c clips
remove axles
remove spider gears
at this point I hope to get the clips out with needle nose pliers and put the news ones back in

As I stated before, I have not done this yet. Anybody want to add/delete information from this procedure?

Wish me luck and I'll report back how it all went.

Of course if the the new clips solve the breakage problem of the old clips, I'm sure you could pay the dealer or your local wrench to do this for you.

 

I did read about Chrysler changing distributors which made thicker housings, thus why there are far less s-clip issue's with the newer trucks. They are still a weak component but far stronger than when they were used on the 02/03/04 model years.

 

Why not just break 'em off and remove them?

 

I quoted you in the other post.

The problem is that there is slop in the carrier when they are removed and cause the clutches to move around which wears on the casing and clutch pack. Not to mention that I have heard of a few noisey/bang complaints upon take off.

They aren't like the C-clips in your axles. These hold the clutch pack from moving around. Why do they break? From the packs wanting to move around. can't have stuff banging around and making metal shavings all over the place.

 

Bogus... I don't have a repair manual, so I was going off of comments made by other members. I though I could get the clips out without any special tools, but I could not figure out how to do that carefully. According to the instructions that came with the clips, you need a couple of special tools to preload the belleville washers under the spider gears. Of course, this procedure is only documented with the carrier removed and on a bench.

If anyone has a "detailed" procedure for how to replace the clips with the carrier in place, I would appreciate it.

 

I can personally confirm, that when I had run my LSD without any clips in the pockets for 20K+ miles, the pockets had worn and there were sharp edges to both the clutch pack tabs and the pockets themselves where they had been moving back and forth.
Weather or not this is detrimental over time I do not know. But 20K+ is quite some time.
I eventually replaced that crappy design LSD with a DTT and all'sgood now.
Sorry I can't help with replacing the retaining clips.
Al.

 

Well, count me in this club. Been ages since I was on the forum.

I was way overdue for a diff fluid change. I had been getting some noise and shudder when backing out of a parking space sometimes. Perhaps a month or so.

I figured the friction modifier in the fluid was toast so I made myself finally change it.

Well, I find one of the dreaded clips and a slivery paste stuck to the magnet at the bottom of the housing. Ugh.

Can't afford to do what I should (replace with a better LSD) so guess I'm going to the dealer tomorrow for a set of improved clips and hope I can get them in without too much trouble.

 

It's not exactl easy as 1-2-3 so yeah, it's going to be of some trouble and expense. When your talking to a service writer, they prob wont know at all wht you ar talking about so you must be specific. Tell them your "Clutch-pack retaining clips" have failed in the differential and they need to be either replaced or totally removed. They are NOT technically called C-clips even though everyone calls them that. They are the clutch-pack retaining clips and are W-shaped and fit inside the Limited slip unit to hold the clutch packs together.
It's actually MORE labor to install new retaining clips than it would be to install a new unit altogether.
I would see if they can just pull the others out and run it like that for a while. They will eventually wear on the LSD housing, but won't effect day-day driving or hurt your differential. There's no way they will Not want to remove the carrier assembly to work on it especially when replacing those clips.

 

Actually, I was thinking of just buying the clips and replacing them as described by the original poster.

Not that big of a deal to get the side gears out. Hopefully that'll give me enough access to tap the things in.

 

Ugh. Bad news. I just went back down to the garage to take another look because the pics I was seeing online didn't match what I'd found on the magnet.

what I found was only part of the clip. Looks sort of like a big staple.

The rest of the clip, the part that looks like a u-shaped sleeve has worked its way over to the right and ground away at the bearing cap and housing. I can also see the the other one has done the same.

Guess I'll pop the bearing cap off tomorrow and see if the housing can even be salvaged at this point.

Oh and before anyone asks: 103,000 miles. No warranty.