Differential Skid Plate

[bobbyblaze]

Brendan. I too would have trouble going during the week but May sounds good. I need to get a radiator skid and diff skids pronto. I dont have rock sliders yet either..damn I wish I could just hit the lottery than it would all be done..I'm in sounds like fun. How much for the day at RC?

Someone say diff skid ? Here's mine. I have already come up with a better mounting solution for the obvious poorly thought out bolts pointing down off the axle tube. All they used is a 3" muffler clamp on each side. Kinda cheap but the plate is nice. 3/16"steel. I cut off the extra thread portion of the clamps after taking the pic and I just carry an extra set of clamps.

[The Roadie]

DIFF SKID!?!?!?!?!?!?! NICE!!!!!!!

Is that a pre-fabbed one for another vehicle with custom mounts? Did I miss a thread somewhere? Or is this the first announcement?!?!

[janesy86]

Roadie, ya got to remember he no longer has a TB.... not sure if you remembered or not..

Tis' nice lookin' tho.

[The Roadie]

Yah, I forgot. Brain fart. Should have looked at the other clues in the pic. All 100 of them.

[bobbyblaze]

DIFF SKID!?!?!?!?!?!?! NICE!!!!!!!

Is that a pre-fabbed one for another vehicle with custom mounts? Did I miss a thread somewhere? Or is this the first announcement?!?!

Even though its a nissan based plate, it may very well fit other axles. At $135 painted, its worth a little possible modding to make it work for the 360 platform if it would even need that. The way it mounts is very adaptable/moddable. I have no problem with taking it off to test fit on a trailvoy if someone in my area wants to meet sometime. Even though i'm not rollin with a bowtie anymore dosen't mean i'm not down with the cause. When I get some 3/16 plate I am gonna' weld a little taller tail lip in the rear of the plate for more coverage if I need to back up over an obstacle.

Can't figure out why the pic won't show on the post.

[Zero]

I like it!!! Neil, calling Neill......hahahaha im sure he could come up with something like that specific for our platform....or maybe Mike could.

[bobbyblaze]

It's an easy one as long as someone has the capability of bending 3/16" steel. It's basically made with one piece with mounting bolts.

[MrSmithsTB]

How about cutting some side plates that could be welded to the skid and then directly to the axle? Or do we think that would create too much stress?

[bobbyblaze]

Someone correct me if i'm wrong but I think welding to the axle tube could weaken it. The fluid would have to be drained before welding to it either way.

On the other hand, without having a bender for 3/16"steel, your idea to weld plates together at the angles you need sounds like a good idea. At that point, it wouldn't be that big of a deal to weld on mounting points like bolts.

[Trail X]

This is cool and all, but not really helpful to us. Our diff is different than the Nissan's. Ours opens from the rear... The Nissan's bolts up from the front, so they NEED a guard because their weakest point is right there on the bottom.

The only thing we need to protect down there is the rear U joint... which Bob's does not actually cover.

We already have a product that protects our diff seal and the rear of the diff cover... it's made by purple cranium: http://purplecranium.com/

All you'd do by adding a diff cover is decrease your under-diff clearance for no reason.

And Bob, I don't think you'll have a problem welding to your diff tube. That's how they attach all of the other suspension brackets. Plus, there is so much metal there, it should dissipate the welding heat pretty well. Also, the image won't display on the page if it's too big. There's a size limit... I forget what it is.

[bartonmd]

This is cool and all, but not really helpful to us. Our diff is different than the Nissan's. Ours opens from the rear... The Nissan's bolts up from the front, so they NEED a guard because their weakest point is right there on the bottom.

The only thing we need to protect down there is the rear U joint... which Bob's does not actually cover.

We already have a product that protects our diff seal and the rear of the diff cover... it's made by purple cranium: http://purplecranium.com/

All you'd do by adding a diff cover is decrease your under-diff clearance for no reason.

And Bob, I don't think you'll have a problem welding to your diff tube. That's how they attach all of the other suspension brackets. Plus, there is so much metal there, it should dissipate the welding heat pretty well. Also, the image won't display on the page if it's too big. There's a size limit... I forget what it is.

All this ^^

[KE7WOX]

We already have a product that protects our diff seal and the rear of the diff cover... it's made by purple cranium: http://purplecranium.com/

Speaking of that, which guard fits our diff?

[Gordinho80]

http://purplecranium.com/i-88751-envoy- ... guard.html

Envoy/Trailblazer/Colorado Half Spider Rock Guard

[bobbyblaze]

This is cool and all, but not really helpful to us. Our diff is different than the Nissan's. Ours opens from the rear... The Nissan's bolts up from the front, so they NEED a guard because their weakest point is right there on the bottom.

The only thing we need to protect down there is the rear U joint... which Bob's does not actually cover.

We already have a product that protects our diff seal and the rear of the diff cover... it's made by purple cranium: http://purplecranium.com/

All you'd do by adding a diff cover is decrease your under-diff clearance for no reason.

And Bob, I don't think you'll have a problem welding to your diff tube. That's how they attach all of the other suspension brackets. Plus, there is so much metal there, it should dissipate the welding heat pretty well. Also, the image won't display on the page if it's too big. There's a size limit... I forget what it is.

James is right. I have 11 bolts that hold the 3rd member together. No rear cover. I am mooding an LSD for more breakaway torque. I would rather have rear cover access to replace it. Gonna' be a PITA to disassemble my 3rd member.

The red arrow shows the main reason why I need the diff plate. That's the Drain bolt in a BAD place. The green shows the clearance I loose with the plate. Looks like alot but it really isn't. Not only that but if i do run across a rock in that area, it will slide over it. That's beauty of it. And just to give you an idea of how big that rear is. The ring gear is 233mm. That's about 9 1/4 inches. Take that ford !

I see what you are saying with welding small brackets to the tube but welding skid plates to it take would require a bunch more heat and weld area. If you think about it, the brackets arent much more that tacked on.

[foosh]

That axle resembles a ford 9 inch alot... and I like that skid, for those of you on tecore 1 I was talking about something like this for our axles. Wonder how hard it would be to adapt or make our own...

[MrSmithsTB]

We may not need the diff protection like Bob does, but something to guard the U joint couldn't hurt. Best way I could see to accomplish that would be to incorporate it into a diff skid. As long as it doesn't hang lower that=n the sway bar, we are no worse for the wear. This would of course be in addition to the cranium.