My rear diff. cover developed a small hole in it this past weekend. I removed it today only to discover two chipped teeth on my ring gear. I did not find any pieces of gear in there but the oil was somewhat chuncky. I put a new cast aluminum caver on it, filled it with oil, drove it 50 miles with a load of firewood in the bed and heard nothing out of the rear. I am planning to change the gears, but shouldn't this thing make some kind of awful noises as is? Mike.