So I have been having a supper annoying chattering on take off when the truck is warmed up, but only after a high speed freeway run. Ive replaced both U joints, the trans mount twice, both motor mounts, checked and rechecked all the bolts and decided that it was the clutch, trans or rear diff. Judging how it has done it with 2 different clutches, and 3 different fly wheels if was pretty sure it was the trans or rear end. So off comes the diff cover. The fluid didnt look as bad as I had expected, but there was signs of water getting in there at some time, not really suprising though. So here is what I found, 2 of the tabs on the LSD clutches broken off and floating around the diff, and a lot of slop in the spider gears, The one closest to the pinion gear seemed to be the source of the slop, ring and pinion are tight. I couldnt see any more signs of damage. I am assuming that the worn and broken clutches are the source of the spider gear slop? Ive read rebuild articles about the 8.8 but I'm not sure if it is worth rebuilding the trac lock or just skipping right to a lunch box locker. I would love to get a OX locker, but they cost too much, and I am not able to set up a ring and pinion. Here are the pics.

 

if i were you i would rebuild your trac lock they are cheap to rebuild and you can stack your clutches better get some spiders and your set just remember where the shims went when you pull it out and you don't have to set it up again

 

Save yourself some $$$. Get a Trac-loc rebuild kit. It's easy enough to do. I think Ford has a regular and now a kevlar clutch pack. No experience with the kevlar personally, but the last 8.8 I rebuilt still has the same clutches for the last 70k miles. No issues whatsoever.

FWIW I did changed the stacking order to get more clutches on both sides. Use a micrometer to measure each clutch/spacer pack to get them as close as possible to the same overall thickness. Also soak the clutches over night in lube before trying to stack/measure/install. Harbor Freight-grade micrometer is more than good enough for this project.