So.... My Rear Diff. is Leaking

9

97 _SR5

New member
Found that the bracket that holds the e-brake cable rusted and broke off, taking a chunk of my diff cover off.... (Yes I'm draining oil in the picture but you get the idea, leak was big enough to leave a puddle on my driveway):



so I slapped some JB Weld on there, but since that's not a real good solution I decided to make my own cover. Some progress pictures:





Fully welded outside:



Fully welded inside:



Almost forgot a fill plug:



Have to wait until Sunday night to cut off old cover and weld new one on. Will post back when completed. Cover passed my light test so I don't expect any leaks.

Thanks for looking,
Rafal

PS for anyone that wants to make their own... the radius of the cover is 4 and 1/16" and the height of the cover is about 3.5"
 
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97 _SR5 said:
Found that the bracket that holds the e-brake cable rusted and broke off, taking a chunk of my diff cover off.... (Yes I'm draining oil in the picture but you get the idea, leak was big enough to leave a puddle on my driveway):



so I slapped some JB Weld on there, but since that's not a real good solution I decided to make my own cover. Some progress pictures:
Click to expand...


You know, I actually think that looks pretty f***in cool. Makes me wanna thump my chest all caveman-like, and holler "f*** yeah" towards the heavens!....and not just because I'm stoned either. If that thing works with no leaks, then I can dig it.
 
LMAO! I agree with [MENTION=115590]StreetCreeper[/MENTION] :smokin: It looks legit!
Im in the same boat as you..:sad: Mine only leaks if my trucks on a jack and the front tires are off the ground... I was looking at replacing the whole housing but this is more cost efficient!
 
StreetCreeper said:
You know, I actually think that looks pretty f***in cool. Makes me wanna thump my chest all caveman-like, and holler "f*** yeah" towards the heavens!....and not just because I'm stoned either. If that thing works with no leaks, then I can dig it.
Click to expand...

Haha... Yes it's crude but it'll work and for me it's an easier and cheaper solution than replacing the whole rear end housing.

Rafal
 
I was also warned, and didn't heed the warnings, regardless of how good you think you weld it can and likely will leak. Any spots you stopped and started form little air bubbles. I've been welding and fabricating for years, thought I could handle it. Since then I've spent a lot of time draining and tacking holes that leak on the outside. My words of wisdom are to make sure that the inside if flawless before you seal it up.
 
This may seem like a dumb question (sorry) but when you cut into the diff with a grinder or a cutting torch won't it spray metal material into the diff and gears, possibly creating problems down the road?
 
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tacojeff said:
I was also warned, and didn't heed the warnings, regardless of how good you think you weld it can and likely will leak. Any spots you stopped and started form little air bubbles. I've been welding and fabricating for years, thought I could handle it. Since then I've spent a lot of time draining and tacking holes that leak on the outside. My words of wisdom are to make sure that the inside if flawless before you seal it up.
Click to expand...

There are many reasons for bubbles or pin holes forming during welding... Not trying to argue because I'm sure you have much more experience in fabricating than I do... I weld axle tubes and spindles on trailers as well as fuel and air tanks on a pretty regular basis and so far ( knock on wood) I haven't had any leak... But that is a valid point to bring up.

Rafal
 
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BrianSD_42 said:
This may seem like a dumb question (sorry) but when you cut into the diff with a grinder or a cutting torch won't it spray metal material into the diff and gears, possibly creating problems down the road?
Click to expand...

Yes... While cutting the cover off and then grinding the surface to prep for welding there is a lot of metal debris flying around... Just have to do your best to minimize it... After cutting off ill cover the gears as best as possible and flush them out as much as I can when all is said and done... I can't imagine after cleaning them them and changing oil a couple times after the repair you would see any more debris in the rear end as normal wear.

Rafal
 
What if you just cut the new cover to fit and welded it over the existing plate without cutting it off? You'd remove the drain and fill plugs of course but at least you wouldn't have to cut into the current diff and risk getting metal shavings in the gears. Maybe I'm over thinking this.
 
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Finally got her welded. Still need to reweld all the little brackets for the brake lines on there.

old diff cover cut off, ended up cutting the diff off with a cut off wheel being careful not to cut too deep, stuffed as many rags as I could inside and covered gears with plastic bags as much as possible then wire wheeled and ground area to be welded. Removed all the crap I put in there be flushed the diff out with pressurized parts cleaner and brake clean.



new diff cover welded:





waiting for everything to cool will refill diff and see if it leaks. If I were to do it again... I would made the cover a little bigger to make it easier to position. I bent my flat stock to a 8.25" "circle" but I think 8.5" would have been better... It clears the gears no problem but I had to rotate the cover a bit to give clearance, so it is a little "crooked" on the housing. And the other thing which would have helped was bending the flat stock in an actual circle... This was the best I could do given a torch some flat stock and a semi truck drum to bend the metal...

Rafal
 
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BrianSD_42 said:
What if you just cut the new cover to fit and welded it over the existing plate without cutting it off? You'd remove the drain and fill plugs of course but at least you wouldn't have to cut into the current diff and risk getting metal shavings in the gears. Maybe I'm over thinking this.
Click to expand...


I'm not sure how comfortable I would be with that... Given the old cover is already rusted and it's really a thin piece of metal it would be difficult the weld anything to that. For one its rusted and grinding the area to be welded would thin it out more, and two the metal is already soaked in gear oil which would give terrible welds because even if you clean the outside well... The welds would pull the oil out of the metal and wouldn't penetrate well giving leaks down the road. The other part is if you are welding over and existing cover that's rusted and you remove the fill plug and weld over that rusted cover, the oil that will get between the old and new cover will eventually find its way back into the diff with all the rust that it picked up between the 2 covers... Getting some metal from cutting inside the diff I personally don't think it's that big of a deal because it can be cleaned out and you're not rotating and of the gears or bearing with the metal particles in there...

Rafal
 
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