Good news!!!! I took the Runner up to see the Toy Tech in St. Albans, WV (outside Charleston). Turns out he is a huge rockcrawler and loves working on trucks/SUVs that are more than Soccer Mom vehicles.

Anyhow he looked at both sides in the rear. The drivers side is clean. The passenger side appears to be the problem. BUT!!!!, it appears that it is grease leaking from behind the dust cover and not gear oil. I'd have to agree with him after looking at it with him for 30-45min. The usual signs are not there for leaking gear oil (ie the smell, coating the backing plate/inside drum/inside wheel, ect....)

So what the decision for now. He recommended throughly cleaning the rear brake assembly & installing new shoes. Then watch them carefully (every 1000-1500miles) to see if there is more build up. If so, a new rear end would be an answer. I can get behind this suggestion as it costs a bit of time and $50 for new brake parts. So it looks like I'll be doing a rear brake job this weekend. I guess this means no locker yet - Damn!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As far as the ratio issue, I confirmed with the dealers books that my manual has 4.10 gears.

For anyone - Midwest Auto (Omaha) has a complete rear-end 4.10, ABS, 4x4 w/locker from an '00 (44K miles) for $1100 & $100 shipped. 6mth warranty as well.

Thanks for all the advice and suggestions. I'm taking the cheap/observant way out for now. I'll keep you up to date.

Andrew