Ok, I pulled the cover and the fluid came out like new, very, very little fine metal on the magnetic drain plug, more like a powder than filings.
Everything looks good but when I put a stethescope on the cross pin that holds the spider gears, I get a definite tick-tick.....tick-tick.....tick-tick at about the frequency the spider gears mesh with each other.
I visually inspected the spiders through the holes in the carrier and didn't see any obvious signs of damage but of the 4 gears, I could only get a visual on 3 of them.
I guess the next step is to pull the carrier and remove the spiders for a thorough inspection.
But before I do that, anybody happen to have a Rubicon on stands that could spin the front wheels and check for me? May save me messing around if it's normal operation.
Vince