Sorry to hear about your friend. It could also be a broken bearing. That happened to me in my 01 Sierra.

 

OK. I took off the rearend cover, and I found a few pieces of metal .(See Attachment).
I also found a good bit of very fine pieces of metal.

My experience working on rearends is limited to changing the fluid and that is it.

Someone mentioned that the G80 can be removed and the truck could still be operated.

Do I have to slide the axles out to do this? Assuming That the G80 is the problem.

Remember as I mentioned before the noise and jerks only happen when
I am turning.

 

From the photos - those look like teeth off the ring gear.
Could look for a used center section - with the same gear ratio vs buying a new ring and pinion gear set.
Axles will need pulled out to install either.
Sorry man.

 

Appreciate it man, I thought that those fragments looked like the ends of the gear, but I was hoping it was the G80.

 

they do look like teeth ends, but i'd jack it up rotate the wheels and find out where they came from before you commit to buying anything. e

 

I talked to 4wheelparts in Houston. They installed my gears in October 02. They said that they have a lifetime warranty on their gears, but not their labor. They told me to take it over and they will have a look at it.

 

I will jack up the truck and turn the wheels and see if I can find out exactly were the metal came from.

 

turn the ring gear - see if all the teeth are there