Rear diff cover has developed a leak, bah!!!

[Lightnig]

Juat noticed today that I have a few spots under the rear end in my parking spot, and I am not happy. argh!

Time to replace the gasket and new fluids in the big bi'ch - 9.75", and only doing the rear at this time. The gasket and fluid replacement I am fine with, but now am wondering what else I should do/look at (besides the condition of the gears, spiders, etc...).

Any value in changing the cover to an after market cover/girdle? I am tempted to change it out just to get a drain plug, if I stick with the original I may just weld in a bung,

anything else I should do or look at while I am in there?

 

[KWT2000]

the after market covers generally allow for more fluid but not convinced that it is worth the extra coin... just check at the gears for funny wear patterns and see if the old fluid smells burnt..

castrol makes a synthetic gear oil with the friction modifier in it, i paid $10 a qt at oriley

 

[Lightnig]

Dicided to forget the aftermarket cover. The existing one has served just fine for the last 16 years, I see no reason to change it now.

Going to pick up gasket and fluid tomorrow and see how energetic I feel over the weekend...

 

[toms89]

Ford does not use gasket on the diff cover from the factory. It recommends clear silicone rubber D6AZ-19562-AA according to my shop manual.

I generally use permatex ultra blue or better. Of course you can use a gasket but I trust the permatex better to seal with the relatively thin flange on the stock cover. If it was an aftermarket cover with a more rigid flange I may then trust a gasket.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[KWT2000]

i use a gasket with a small amount of permatex just for safety

 

[Lightnig]

bah, still have not been able to get the time to address this, so another quick question:

Does tha panhard bar and the sway bar need to be dropped to pull the rear diff cover, or is there enough room in there to wiggle the cover out?

 

[KWT2000]

there is enough room to slide it out the bottom

 

[1997SCEBFEX]

concur w/ Tom on the silicone once all cleaned up.
Ensure you give it time ~ an hour to get tacky before final torque.

PanHandler.