Meritor/Rockwell front diff RT40 lots of metals in magnet

Background.

This is on a 1999 Volvo VLN610 Cummins n14 with Rockwell rt40-145 front differential power divider. 891,xxx (original) miles.

I've been feeling/hearing a pretty loud hum under heavy load climbing hills.

Got a minute today to pull plugs and had a lot of fine shavings making a mountain on the magnet. While it was draining, toward the end of the oil draining, it turned really chocalate texture with tons of bubbles.

We will drop power divider tomm and check pd and differential as well as check options on rebuilt/reman here in Atlanta.

What could be the cause of the chocalate/bubble mixture?

 

Interesting..

Sounds pretty bad. What would be the damage? Lack of lubrication due to air in oil. Anyhow. We will take down tomm to check.

 

This truck has lived a very rough life. Ran local with loads grossing 100,000k lbs. Way too much for this truck. It was only 25 miles per load, but stop and go atlanta traffic certaintly took its toll. It might be time to pay the piper. Can't wait for the pumpkin to drop to see damage. Meanwhile, I will be in our other N14. Christmas too close to take a payday hit.