Hey guys, as the title says, I'm having some issues with my Chrysler 8.25 rear end. It's stock gearing, 29-spline in my 1999. I have had no issues with it, until I recently likely f*cked it up.
I went to a pretty difficult trail and whacked my stock diff cover on a rock, putting a pinhole in the cover itself almost directly center on the cover (I know, stupid to not have reinforced covers). I trail-fixed the hole with some JB weld - or so I thought. Topped off with fluid and it seemed fine the rest of the trail.

Drove home from the trail the next day, which in total is about 150 miles. Maybe halfway through did I notice some faint whining from the rear end. I went to exit the freeway to check on it, and it continuously started to get louder. I pulled off into a parking lot and found that my "fix" JB weld somehow did not stop the leak completely, and most of the fluid likely wept out of the small hole. (note again that the hole is basically center on the cover, not at the bottom, but probably doesn't matter). I had more JB weld and oil so I patched the hole again, this time stopping any leak, and filled it back up. Instead of shelling out a bunch of money for a tow home (and also an Uber due to tow company's restrictions with COVID), I opted to just take it slow and get it home. The noise did not get any worse during the drive but I think whatever damage I did was already done.

The noise is a loud whirring that gets consistently louder with wheel speed, and makes a jarring louder noise under deceleration.
After pulling the cover at home, I don't see any damage to any of the gears. But I have limited experience with differentials... There were in fact some metal shavings accrued in the bottom of the diff, kind of like flat thin shavings. I'm guessing I must've damaged a bearing, but hopefully someone here knows more and can guide me in the right direction. I am mechanically inclined, but with basically no experience in rear-ends, I am not sure the best path to take forward. Would it be worth it to try to fix it? What's the best way to diagnose what's actually causing the noise?

I was planning on just scrapping the axle and swapping in an 8.8, but I'm having trouble finding one with the right gear ratio, and right now I'd just like to get the Jeep derivable again. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

TLDR; likely oil starved Chrysler 8.25, still drove it home like a dumbass, now not sure what I f*cked up.

 

Fill it with oil and keep running it. Also their is very little to gain by swapping to an 8.8, not worth it in my opinion.