mudmaniac

Pull the diff cover off and take a look at the gears, sounds to me like maybe some of the spyder gears are messed up. That won't cost you that much to repair on your own and if the ring and pinion are ok you wont need to pull them and worry about setting up the rear again. you can replace the spyder gears without even removing the carrier.

MDTAHOE

If there was that much metal in it chances are the rear is shot and no amount of fluid changes will fix it. You need to pull the cover and look inside. I think you will find total devastation

ActiveMonkey

So you removed the cover and inspected the Diff to find no faults? hmm

When i blew my rear diff i could drive straight no problem... but when i tried to turn i heard a clunk clunk bang. Turns out a blew the spider gears and it was done. I Ordered a new Eaton Posi Differential and threw it in that night.

Definitely pull off the cover and check it out.

suzuki-guy

when i blew mine i could not move at all gernaded it right out the cover in pieces

fsh4fun05

I haven't removed the cover yet. That's tomorrows project if I decide to tackle it myself. There were two pieces of metal in the fluid and a small amount of metal dust. Obviously something is wrong. I imagine when I take the cover off there isn't going to be an arrow pointing at what's wrong, of course, I'll be looking for broken teeth but I've never dealt with a rear end issue before, besides my wife being a pain in my rear end.
At worst, what do you think this could cost?

suzuki-guy

I had the worst possible scenarioa i spent 130 dollars on a junkyard possi, limited slip auburn carrier, 130 dollars on ring and pinion, 100 bucks on bearings and seals, and 30 dollars on cover because when mine went peices of metal blew my cover out, and last about 20 bucks on fluids. But this is not a do it yourself job you have to check, backlash, pinion depth and have special toools so unless you have a friend or live in michigan by me you have to add labor cost for a garage

ActiveMonkey

If you're ring and pinion are not damaged you only need to replace the differential and don't need any special tools. just make sure to mark the carrier shims because they must go back in EXACTLY the way they came out.

I found some pictures of mine.

suzuki-guy

Yeah thats if your ring and pinion are ok!! And your spider gears are just broken there why would you replace the whole carrrier? And if you are changing the spider gears you should repalce carrier bearings, wheel bearings. And if you take that all out of there it is highly reccomended that you check your backlash(which you will need a dial indicator for which i consider a special tool)!!! I just did mine 2 months ago i could show you pics the bucket is still in my barn full of broken spider gear and my toothless pinion gear. My ring actually looked fine but i replaced it anyways. Ohh and only buy Timken bearings!!

ActiveMonkey

I replaced the whole thing because i wanted to upgrade to the Eaton Posi. Checking the backlash is recommended. I didn't feel like it and had to work the next day so i chanced it. I suppose it really all depends on the person and how much time/money they really want to put into it.

suzuki-guy

yeah ive had a few days where i found myslef fixing my truck just to get to work!! But a rear end is something you do not want to chance!! I think the eaton carriers are junk!! I like my auburn unit!! Actually the carrier sitting in a bucket in pieces is a eaton