How are you protecting diffs?

[toddarama]

I am working on my approach to protecting the bottom of my JTR. Looking for some suggestions and healthy discussion about how best to protect the diffs. Is an aftermarket diff cover 'enough'? Is a skid plate a better idea? Is this an either/or question or should I be thinking diff cover AND skid plate?

What are you using, would you do the same thing again .... inquiring minds want to know!

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[toddarama]

Never mind ... stupid me didn't to a search first ... I'll go read the existing threads on this same question!

 

[NERokToy]

Is this an either/or question or should I be thinking diff cover AND skid plate?

I've never understood adding a piece of 3/16-1/4" steel to protect nodular iron that is easily 3-4 times that thickness. The only housing failure I have seen were either caused by grossly overloading the axle, involved high speed, or combo of the two.

 

[jac04]

I've never understood adding a piece of 3/16-1/4" steel to protect nodular iron that is easily 3-4 times that thickness. The only housing failure I have seen were either caused by grossly overloading the axle, involved high speed, or combo of the two.

A steel skid plate / guard is usually there to protect the relatively weak stamped steel diff cover and not necessarily the diff housing itself.

People who rock crawl a lot can significantly wear down the bottom of the cast iron diff housing from repeatedly dragging it over rocks. This could eventually lead to the housing cracking and leaking. In this case, a steel skid plate is used as a sacrificial plate.

However, some skid plates are designed as a 'slider' to help drag the diffs over the rocks more easily, while simultaneuosly protecting the diff housing, input pinion and driveshaft joint.

Here is an example from my JK, but similar sliders are available for the JL/JT:

 

[guarnibl]

I do not run aftermarket skid plates, nor any type of differential protection -- on any of my Wrangler/Gladiators. I do have aftermarket axles in my JK and they have a slider. I'll likely eventually put in axles in both my 392 and Gladiator, at which point they'll have a slider. Until then, if it breaks, so be it.

I'm a pretty good line picker, but I do understand those skids/protection offer a lot more than stock, and certainly peace of mind. But honestly, I don't scrape all that often.

 

[Aonar]

I swapped in AEV Diff Covers before the Moab trip in 2022. Stock height JLURD and I did Fins & Things, Steel Bender and Hell's Revenge. Nary an issue for the Diffs (I wasn't as lucky with the Fuel Filter skid). I ran the other BOH trails you see with the stock Diffs. I did not want to chance it in Moab though.

 

[KQL]

I’ve got the Metalcloak rear skid, but realized it makes diff oil changes more difficult. Just something to consider when shopping around. Especially if you’re a believer in frequent fluid changes for the diffs (which I don’t have a strong opinion about, but have seen posts from folks that do)
https://metalcloak.com/jt-gladiator-m220-rear-differential-skid-plate.html

 

[Jefe1018]

Tire placement and skinny pedal control for me. If that fails, Glock 19.

 

[jac04]

I’ve got the Metalcloak rear skid, but realized it makes diff oil changes more difficult. Just something to consider when shopping around.

The AEV diff slider shown in my picture above originally came with holes to allow for changing the oil. I made plugs for the holes and had them welded in. If you wheel a lot, you will gladly trade ease of oil changes for a better functioning slider. R & I of the slider adds 15 minutes to my yearly diff oil change.

 

[jac04]

I'm a pretty good line picker, but I do understand those skids/protection offer a lot more than stock, and certainly peace of mind. But honestly, I don't scrape all that often.

Yeah, here in New England you can pick a great line, but in the end the line ends up picking you.

 

[whiteglad]

Years ago my Ram hit a huge rock in the trail at very low speed. I was going along a wash with brush in the middle so the mostly underground boulder was hidden. I had a 3/16" skid/deflector that I had fabricated on the front diff, and it was pushed to the cover. The engine stalled. After that, I have used someting on the front diff, most recently thick steel covers from Motobilt and Cav Fab. Since the drain plugs were omitted from the diffs, I drill and tap for a 1/8 NPT plug near the bottom of the cover.

 

[guarnibl]

Yeah, here in New England you can pick a great line, but in the end the line ends up picking you.

Ha, haven't wheeled up there.

 

[NERokToy]

People who rock crawl a lot can significantly wear down the bottom of the cast iron diff housing from repeatedly dragging it over rocks. This could eventually lead to the housing cracking and leaking.

Sure anything CAN happen or COULD eventually lead to issues, but that does not mean it is likely to happen. You are sacrificing ground clearance to protect the strongest part of the axle.
If you look at vehicles built specifically for ONLY rockcrawling you will never see a skid plate on the axle housing. That says a lot about how useful that skid plate would be on a mixed use vehicle.

I do see the value on the skid plate that protects the driveshaft that also happens to cover the housing as well. There you are protecting one of the weakest links in the system.

With or without a skid plate I would upgrade the diff covers

 

[Minty JL]

I do not run aftermarket skid plates, nor any type of differential protection -- on any of my Wrangler/Gladiators. I do have aftermarket axles in my JK and they have a slider. I'll likely eventually put in axles in both my 392 and Gladiator, at which point they'll have a slider. Until then, if it breaks, so be it.

I'm a pretty good line picker, but I do understand those skids/protection offer a lot more than stock, and certainly peace of mind. But honestly, I don't scrape all that often.

Driver mod FTW

 

[jac04]

If you look at vehicles built specifically for ONLY rockcrawling you will never see a skid plate on the axle housing. That says a lot about how useful that skid plate would be on a mixed use vehicle.

Yeah, you certainly don't need to worry about wearing out the bottom of the diff housing on a "mixed use vehicle", and purpose-built rock crawlers typically use axle housings with a much better design.

But, if you look specifically at the JL / JT as the "mixed use vehicle", the diff housing design is absolutely horrible in terms of catching on rocks. The 'webs' on the bottom are like anchors when dragging them over rocks:

Some people will gladly give up a little ground clearance so they won't get hung up. The tough part is that on the JL/JT you are giving up around 1/4"+ of clearance because the slider goes completely under the diff housing. That doesn't sound like much, but every bit of clearance matters.

My off-road rig is a JK, so I'm lucky that the AEV diff slider tucks up in front of the web and doesn't reduce clearance at all:

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