I have 20K miles on my 07. I had my mechanic fix a leaking tranny cooler line and had him test drive it because I was feeling something weird. He said the rear limited slip is shot. He said the clutches are shot and he can't even get it to engage. He said he had another JK in for the same problem but it had 60K miles on it. My rear diff fluid is jet black. For an upgraded version and fix its $1200.
Why the heck is it gone at only 20K miles?

 

It uses clutches. Clutches wear out.

Do you offroad a lot? Tires in the air will wear them out faster than if just street driven. If you don't lift tires, then

Replace with a truetrac instead of another factory limited.

And $1200 for what ??? If that is just a factory limited and labor, you're being ripped off.

 

Hmmm...my 08 did the very same thing at about 40,000KMS, warranty covered it all...now at 112,000KM still going strong (knocking on wood sound)

 

Clutches wear out at 20K miles? Sucks! I don't off road a lot, I'd say some, but not a lot. He said its more from stop and go driving, city driving etc., because its always engaging the clutches. I bought the Jeep used with 9K miles on it. The $1200 price was for an upgraded rear end. I'm going back next week to ask him some questions, and yes, I'll be going with a true trac. Thanks.

 

What is 'upgraded'? You can find rear truetracs online for $460 shipped. Install should be well under $500, probably closer to $350-$400. Unless you are getting shafts or gears or something else, that quote is quite high.

I wonder if you didn't have l/s additive in the gear oil? I haven't actually read any posts on the effects of running a clutch driven limited slip without the required additive, but maybe that would cause the premature wear.

 

Thanks. I'll be talking to another shop here in town.

 

Man, $350-$400 for labor! 4wheelpart store charged me $600. They also, had to send my TruTrac to a machine shop to have the holes enlarged to 1/2" with a carbon drill I believe. They did not have a bit hard enough.

I tried to save money on a gear install on my old Bronco, and with in a week they where toast. Sometimes you get what you pay for, and thats why I went with 4wheelpart store. I figured they have had plenty of experience with gear installs on jeeps.

 

Stop and go driving? Why would that wear them out? Unless i'm wrong the clutches should be engaging when there is slippage between the 2 wheels. If that is the case then unless your stop and go driving and your city driving are that slick then I don't think that's your issue. Heck if that was the case these things would be going bad right and left on people with JK's and limited slips. Sounds to me like you could use a second opinion.

 

Yeah, rates vary a lot by location. Four local shops (including 4WP) were quoting $400-450 for an ARB install, and $350-400 for a truetrac or detroit. I guess overcharging for both the labor and the traction device gets it closer to the ballpark of their quote.

I would still shop around before committing.

 

Yep, definitely getting a second opinion. That's why I love forums. You can run things by other Jeep owners and find out if you're getting screwed or not. Thanks guys!