welding on diff armour(helmet)

[Turbo Tonka]

as the title says just after peoples thoughts and advice on welding diff armour onto their diff to protect the gears.

on my last sierra i had i bent up some flat bar while i had a stripped housing and welded it on....worked good

now i want to weld something on my hilux diff which is in the car and complete.my question is(without sounding too stupid) can it be done as it sits?big welds and amps wont be used so it wont burn through etc and if it welds up like my last zuk one,i had it weld on basically where existing welds allready were.i dont know if ill make one myself or get something like the boxy locktup ones or 8" pipe cap.

[Narrowscopeofreality]

As far as the welding goes, certainly can. I doubt you'd be able to blow a hole through your diff if you tried. Maybe if you had a big 3 phase 450a mig. As for the armor, someone else probably has more ideas on what to use.

[Loanrangie]

I actually had the idea of making some diff protectors not necessarily weld on. There is a machine shop near my work that makes dished caps by forming sheet steel fot tanks etc. I am going to approach them and get a price for some small caps that would be suitable as diff protectors that could be welded on or make brackets to bolt them on this is the shape i'm talking about. Obviously much smaller but you get the idea .

[Loanrangie]

Or getting above and cutting in half to make these -

[95shorty]

just done this recently with the housing stripped if i was going to do another one i would probably use the same thing again, and welding it while the housing is still complete shouldnt really matter, probably just make sure the diff breather works so the heat pressure dont build up and want to push your oil out lol, so easy just wack her on and 3 welds later its done.

[PacMan]

An easy way is using sewer pipe caps.
You get them in different sizes and there are cheap.

You can cut the cap in half and use it on both diffs.
Or you buy two and keep them complete.

A problem on most layout is that dirt collects between diff and cap.
And that ends up very quick in rust and an unseal diff housing.

Chris

[alien]

yeah after its welded, pump it full of sikaflex before painting - that will stop it rusting underneath... and if you use the flexible stuff you can always remove it later (if you decide to grind off the cap).

[Turbo Tonka]

been thinking ill probably go with the TG caps as they look pretty cool and not much dearer than the price i got for a 8" pipe cap.....but atleast it can do both.

Yeah ill make sure my breather is working good which im sure they do or just drain the oil first anyway.

[str8up]

Probably better to leave the oil in, it will keep it a bit cooler.

[Turbo Tonka]

ive watched my boss weld oil tanks that are full.as long as they breath he seems pretty happy normally

[Willy Hilux]

Cut the whole back off and weld on an 8" sewer pipe cap. Will hold a bit more oil and will be strong.