Last trail run I was on two weekends ago I was climbing up a rockface and was so vertical that I could see nothing but sky so I was relying heavily on my spotter. I'm not sure who was to blame, his spotting or my driving but I ended up sliding off of a rock ledge that spun me a bit sideways, wedging one of my rear tires into a crevice.

My front tires didn't have much traction and all the power in my rear end was going to the tire not stuck in the wedge. So I turned on my lockers (forces equal power to both left and right wheels) and bang, I was unstuck. Only problem is the word "bang", which I actually heard. Never a good sound to come from your rear end. (Could I feed you a better opening for a joke...)

Everything continued to work fine and I made my way back up the dried up waterfall that almost did me in. After finishing the trail and before we drove back to our after-trail BBQ location, I checked the diff fluid cap for any signs of metal shards stuck to the magnet. Seemed clean as ever so I left it.

This weekend, after a week of driving without noise or issue, paranoia made me decide I better open up the diff cover and look inside. I couldn't see much as when you have an air actuated locker, much of the 'gearing' is inside a metal cylindar instead of out in the open but I could see metal hamburger everywhere. Looked like it was from a thin, flat ring of some kind but must have come from inside the locker enclosure.

So, never having dealt with the inner workings of a locked rear end before, I took it to my trusty mechanic. I just got word back that he couldn't see much more than I could without further breaking it down but already he guessed the worst and because the Chrystler doesn't sell individual parts, (Rubicons come with factory lockers, believe it or not.) I have to get the entire enclosure.

Short story, I'm looking at 2-3 grand to get repaired and since Rubicon's are less common and finding used parts for it are like hunting for pearls, my normal network of fellow Jeepers doesn't look good for spares. A written off Rubicon has it's front and rear ends practically pulled off before the wrecker can get it in the yard.

On the positive side, I have been using this as a daily driver and a trail rig since I bought it in 2003 and this is the first major repair I have had to do to it. I honestly can't complain as very few can say the same. Still hurts though.

With great power comes Awesome irresponsibility.