The other day I noticed a huge flaw in the differential of my Xj. I was driving down a trail at about 10mph and was stopped dead. Scared the hell out of me, so I put the Jeep in park and stepped out to see what I hit and if there was any damage. I found that my rear differential had caught a tree stump. The reason the differential caught the stump and stopped the Jeep like it did was because there is an inch to inch and a half lip on the bottom of the diff. I did a bunch of research online looking for some sort of a skid plate that would allow a vehicle to slide over an obstacle like that instead of just hitting it, but I couldn't find anything. Is there anything like that on the market? I can't be the first person that this has happened to.

I'm currently on 33" tires and plan to eventually move to 35" tires, but that's a big as I plan on going. As far as I know, larger tires are the only way to raise a differential higher off the ground. Am I wrong?

 

I have come across some beefy covers that say they help slide off but you can still get stick on the lip of the differential itself. I haven't come across any kind of skid like the one you are looking for. You could always fab one up yourself.

 

They're called pinion skids, but no one makes one for our diffs.

I dunno about other diffs, but the 8.25 cover is notorious for getting peeled back, breaking the seal and leaking. You might want to refill the diff reseat the cover just so you don't end up with a leak in a few days or whatever. I like those Lubelocker gaskets because unlike RTV they aren't worthless once the seal is broken.

 

I think they do make them for a dana 44, just look them up to get an idea then maybe you can come up with something from there.

 

Try searching for "differential slider" too

 

You can also grind off a good bit off the bottom. I removed over an inch from my 60.

 

I'd love to make one up myself, but don't have the tools nor the knowledge to do so yet... but some day I will. If that lip was, say a 45 degree angle rather than a 90 degree angle to the ground, you could slide over a lot of obstacles that you would normally just get stuck on. It goes along the same concept as a rock bumper; it's angled so you slide up over obstacles rather than just hitting them and stopping.

 

There is a local who use 1/4" stock and welded on his own skid. Its hard to get a real good weld with cast iron but he did it. Welds don't have to be extremely strong in this situation because even when you hit something hard the weld itself dose is under vary little stress.

 

I wish I had the skills and a welder to do so. I plan to go to school for welding, but don't have the money for it now.

 

dana 30 http://www.quadratec.com/products/12523_201.htm

dana 35 http://www.quadratec.com/products/12523_203.htm

dana 44 http://www.quadratec.com/products/12523_205.htm

bam

 

He has a 8.25

 

bam!

http://www.quadratec.com/products/580-125.htm


all i did was go to google and type in rear pinion glider

 

idk where mine came from they were in my friends shop so he gave them to me but i got one for the d30 front and my 8.125 rear yu only lose bout a ½ of Clarence but he work good on rocks

 

hmm you might have just given me a good idea

 

9th degree USED to make a skid for the 8.25 but since they switched to mainly tj/yj/jk's they stopped



you could always make your own