Hi, I've got a '94 F250 with the 460 motor and 4.10 gears. I just had the oil changed and they found a piece of metal about the size of a large grain of rice stuck to the rear differential plug. Is this normal? Should I get the fluid serviced ASAP? The truck has about 130k miles on it. I don't know when the diff fluid was last serviced since I bought it used recently...

Thanks for the help,
Anthony

 

I wouldn't worry about it too much...it's somewhat normal for pieces of metal to whear off of the teeth, that's why there is a magnet in the diff cover.

I've seen larger pieces than that, and continued to use it.

 

So I had my mechanic look at it...apparently it's at risk of catastrophic failure. Not something I want to happen while my wife is towing. Damage is about $1950. :-(

Sounds like the locker is not working and several clips are missing from the passenger side carrier.

 

Sounds like he is saying the dogs that lock the plates into the carrier are wearing/breaking...I've seen that on a few trucks. I hope that quote is for a full rebuild from end to end, thats a lot of money for the work...

 

My experience, when locking rings give, the carrier wasn't installed right. The lash may have been wrong, or maybe even bearings shimmed incorrectly.

My experience came from my own inexperience, and doing myself! Cost me about $1000. But that bought me a e-locker, and a new set of 4.10s, along with evrything eles needed. Did it with some expert help the second time.

 

Could be,I dunno, Ive seen two rears opened up with this condition (both were salvage units)

 

Thanks for all the replies. I talked to the mechanic again and he said the clutch retaining clip was broken and had damaged the clutch pack and carrier housing. As part of the repair we're upgrading to a truetrac lsd. Hopefully we'll be able to pull the horse trailer on wet grass now :-)