So I'm in the process of changing the gear oil in my differentials at 18,800 miles. I pulled the drain plug and there's a bunch of large metal curly fries in there. I know there will typically be some shavings, but the size and amount of these have me concerned. Here's a photo of what came out of the front diff. Any feedback would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

 

That cant be normal. I just did mine at 27,000 miles and had nothing but a little metal "dust" in the fluid, nothing like you had. Pull the covers!

 

Those look like chips from a cutting tool.
The only thing I can imagine would do that in the diff is the ring gear cutting into the inside of the cover.
Open it up for inspection, and post some pictures.

 

Drilled diff for air or electric lockers?

 

Thanks guys. They're just the standard diffs as they came from the factory for an X model.

They do look like shavings from machining rather than the result of mechanical mayhem. Maybe my case didn't get cleaned after machining at the factory? I pulled the cover, and the gears look alright to my very untrained eye. No grind marks of any kind inside the case or on the inside of the cover.

A little video of the gears spinning:

http://s577.photobucket.com/albums/s...t=IMG_0485.mp4

On another note, do the JK diff covers normally have a gasket? Mine just had RTV sealant.

 

It looks OK from what I can see in the video. Luckily the chips didn't find there way into the gears.

The cover is normally sealed with RTV; no gasket.

 

Looks to me like the superb Mopar quality control probably left them in after machining from the factory.

 

MOPAR builds the axles? I always thought they came from an outside source, (Dana?), already built.

 

I busted out my little dental mirror and a flashlight and I don't see anything out of the ordinary. I'm going to chalk this problem up to an assembly mistake. This could have been ugly if it didn't have a magnetic drain plug. I checked the rear diff and there were no such shenanigans.

I had planned on using Mobil 1 systhetic gear oil, but I think I'm going to throw some cheap stuff in there, then drain it again in 500 miles to see if there are any new chunks in there.

Thanks for the help, guys. This forum rocks

 

Good idea. I wish this is what I saw when I cracked mine. Entire teeth were broken off in mine though! Meh, it was cool to learn how to change gears.