I can't see spending 100 or more dollars on a diff cover, and i don't really bash mine around, but i decided i wanted something a little more beefy. i already found the thicker d44 covers to replace my flimsey scout covers.

then i started with 3 pieces of flat stock and did this



fired up the welder, little bit rusty, and haven't used this awesome machine in my garage before. i'm happy


i welded a boss on the inside above the old fill plug and made a new fill plug an inch or so higher to compensate for the pinion angle lowering the fill hole, and the pinion being higher, and i welded the old plug shut, and ground half it away as you could already see.


here it is all painted up, i almost liked it better not painted but now it is subtle, for my sleeper build



also made a drain plug for the axle, which i'm doing to all mine, its actually pretty easy.

Looks good, the interior welds arent going to interfere with anything?

^ no they are a good distance away from the gear. I saw that cover tonite it was pretty beefy to start with and then the extra metal it is gonna be a monster.

Frankenstein is reborn.....

thats a good idea about the drain plug. the rubicon d44's have those and makes it a really simple and clean job if all you want to do is to change the diff fluid.

nice cover too

Dave, are you going to measure the amount of fluid you put in or won't excess cause any issues? (Never heard what happens when you overfill a diff).

yes, frenken diff cover, lol. not bad for free.

over filling diffs is not good. but when you have a significantly higher pinion and pinion angle, the pinion bearings are higher, and the fill plug is lower, this cases problems starving the pinion bearings for oil.

normal conditions, over filliing diffs causes leaks, axle seals primarily, same with t cases.

some pretty cool garage fab!! how much stronger do you think it made the housing?