I was doing a diff change, and found a small metal u-shaped piece attached to the drain plug. Any ideas on what this is?




I haven't noticed any weird noises or clunking. Several months ago, I did a whoopsie and put the spare on a rear tire; drove approximately 8 miles before I was corrected and fixed it. Other than that, I don't see anything I do being horrifically violent to the diff. No launching.

 

This has been documented before. Apparently it is known to break off a piece in the diff and cause no harm.

 

So there is... Thread

I guess in my head I jumped to "OMG it's broken, there's no way anyone else had this exact problem".

Thanks for the reply, in any case. Hopefully the extra thread pops up the next time someone has this issue.

 

For sure an oopsy poopsy moment for anyone at first :s

 

I guess the consensus is that one broken ear being found on a street-driven car might be okay. If you start finding a few more of them in the future, or if you track the car heavily you will want to address the issue as the washers will start having excess movement within the diff.

What fluid are you running ?

 

AMSOIL Severe Gear 75W-90. After much reading yesterday, I came to the conclusion that most people think 75W-110 is probably the way to go, a few individuals believe that nothing less than straight weight 90 is instant death, but in the end, the stuff I'm running is probably OK, especially in colder months.

I plan on changing out to 75W-110 for the spring Dragon event.

Also, if I find more ears, I think I'll just save up and get a Puddymod unit. I plan on eventually boosting it, and I swore I would build the drivetrain first.

 

Yeah I would recommend their 75w-110, it would be equally good as 75w90 in colder months so you get the best of both worlds, you can run it all year long without issues. I had excellent results with LE1605 which is an SAE110, but I don't run my car in colder months and it can be a tad thick in colder temps.

 

Running the spare in the rear is likely the cause.

The dif locks in "turning" state, but the front wheels are fighting the car straight, stressing the dif.

Fortunately I too have found this exact tab in a couple difs and not one of them has developed any problems at all.

 

It's interesting that our diff can lose a few pieces and still be in good condition and cause no issues.

 

Just an observation.....thats's a nasty looking diff bolt.

Perhaps changing the fluid more often might be a good idea.I change mine every spring( Amsoil 75-110) which is usually every 10k-15k miles.

Fluid is cheap.....hard parts are not.

\rlr
Carolina