TJ Automatic Transmission service. Is it destined for a rebuild?

[TjMike]

Started doing some service work to my 02 TJ including rear main seal replacement and servicing the automatic transmission. I pulled the transmission cover and noticed the fluid was pretty dark. Got the cover all the way off and there was a lot of silver on the magnet.
Here are some pictures. The first pic shows a small piece of metal that was on the magnet.
Think a flush and new fluid would be fine or should I pull it and have it gone through?
Jeep has 130k miles and not sure when the last fluid change was.

[a1gemmel]

That looks cleaner than nearly every transmission I've ever drained, manual or auto. Granted most stuff I service is at least 20 years older than your TJ. Personally I wouldn't sweat it unless you're actually seeing symptoms of failure (bad shifts, slipping). However I'm not a mechanic by any means.

[Jim]

I have scant little experience but here's my take - I'm not concerned about the ferrous material on the magnet but the partial semi-circle piece does raise an eyebrow. Is the other 2/3 of that item still in place and is all that is holding some component together? Is that piece a gasket or a retainer?

While the pan is off - can you locate where that broken bit came from? If yes, could you easily remove/replace the part.

[TjMike]

I have not had a chance to go through to see if I can find where the semi-round metal chunk came from but that was the only piece I found in the pan.
This piece is the only thing that really has me nervous but besides one instance of slippage, the transmission shifts/feels good. A flush, new filter and fluid is where I'm leaning.
Speaking of flushing, never done it before so pray for my garage floor

[Jim]

Depending upon what the "flush" does, I might simply change the fluid, drive for a tank of fuel and change it again.

What's the cost (materials and time) for a flush vs. a change?

[Mountaineer01]

I'm no mechanic either but I've flushed two transmissions both with over 100k miles on them and no issues so far. Common knowledge is that the flush will not damage a transmission but if it already had issues they might be brought to light after one. If you are willing to pull it and have it gone through as you stated, then you might as well try the flush and see how it goes. Worst case is you wasted a few hundred $ on fluid. I agree with others that the material on the magnet is completely normal but the little ring is not. That being said if its running fine I wouldn't stress it.

The messiest part of the flush is dropping the pan so you already got that out of the way!

[TjMike]

The main reason for the flush was to get any metal in the cooler out but after a few of comments and thinking about it, I think I'm just going to put a new filter/fluid in and see how she drives. Not sure where that piece of metal came from but visual inspection came up empty. Maybe one of the kids was playing around and threw it down the dipstick