How hot should rear diff. be?

OK, went wheelin over weekend. Cracked my header and didn't know it till a few days later, but broke my rear axle vent tube bolt.

I have a 97 XJ. It has a fatory C8.25. Where the brake lines all meet into the block on top of the axle, there is a vent tube bolt that is hollow and holds block to axle, that bolt got sheared off flush in axle. I will try and fix it tomorrow, (I have no idea how to get that out). But my concern is that there has just got to be a ton of mud and water in there if it broke early in the wheelin trip. Anyway, drove about 55-60 for about 10 minutes, then threw the infared temp gun on it, and it was 124. My buddies HD2500 work van was 108.

I think I hear a droning/whining from rear end! It may be real, it may be in my head, but I think its real!

Yes, after I fix, I will replace gasket and fluid.

100 to 150 is normal could be as high as 170 for a LSD.

mine has nothing wrong with it and it regularly runs at 135. taken with a infared gun. also no lsd.:wierd:

i've heard from friends and from people that buy used cherokees in bulk at auctions for dealerships that the rear ends in cherokees usually go bad and start to whine. my friend told me to especially stay away from the grand cherokees because the rear ends are "junk" according to him. I know that the rear end int he cherokee i just bought has a slight whine to it under load, but i'm not that concerned. I will be changign the fluid soon as soon as i find out if i have a lsd or open diff. (i will have to just go to a delaership and have them look it up by VIN)

my only experiences with cherokees was from the last oen i owned which was a 1986 with the 2.8 v6 now that engine sucked! i would probably still own the jeep if it had the 4.0 in it.
anyways, now that the cherokee has been hijacked by the wife, i have to find myself one, or a wrangler, i'm not sure which i'll get...