Eaton Clutch missing teeth

1996 K1500 Pickup 5.7 147K Miles

Well I decicded to change most of the fluids on the truck (Trans,Frt Axle,Transfer Case,Cooling system and Rear diff).

All was going well until I popped the cover on the rear diff and noticed some small metal pieces on the magnet. I did a good inspection looking for the source of the metal and noticed a fine tooth gear just to the left of the flywieghts on the Eaton clutch is missing some teeth.
( Hope I got that right, don't know alot about Diffs)

This hasn't caused me any troubles so far but I was wondering if it is dangerous to just ignore this. If this will only cause me to lose the "locking" feature of the rear end, then I am not to worried.

I guess my question is could this cause more damage to the rear end if I just refill it with gear lube and ignore it?
The rest of the Diff looks to be in great shape.

If you do not need or want the anti/spin lock.
You could leave it as is or.
To be on the safe side you could pull out the little barrel shaped flipper and the small shaft.
MT

Thanks for the info and such a quick reply MT, that definitely puts my mind at ease.
Much appreciated !!