I have the dirty Dana 35. It does not appear to be a LSD.

I had the gear oil changed over a year ago, figured it was time to do it again and might as well do it myself and learn something. Unfortunately, when I popped the cover off I found some metal shavings in the fluid.

I sprayed everything down with brake cleaner and couldn't find any gear teeth that were completely broken, but there were several that have a bit shaved off the end.

Here are some pics:



On this one you can see some of the chips at the end of the gear teeth.



It's not making any noises (or at least, any noises it hasn't made in the 1.5 years I have owned it.) Should I just keep my eye on it?

 

Some scoring on the teeth, looks like it's been run with metal shavings for a while. I'd clean it out really well, housing too, refill, drive a week, drain and refill again- then keep an eye on it.
If the last place didn't remove the cover to drain and refill, perhaps used a vacuum pump, those metal shavings may have been in there a long time.

 

I have had diffs with metal in the bottom before. I cleaned everything out real well and checked all the gears. Looked like "normal" wear so I just filled it and let it go. I have been running the same gears for several years now, then, I had one that looked close to the same and it didn't last another year. I say to clean, fill and run it until it dies, then upgrade to a better axle. Those gears may last several more years or they could explode next week.

 

Will do, thanks for the suggestions. I'll keep this thread updated.