I'm about to my 30,000 mile service point and they say you need to change the diff fluids. I figure while I'm at it I might as well replace the diff covers with something a little more stout.

Do you guys think it's a good idea to swap to something more durrable or is this one of those "bling" upgrades people do like the front skid plate?

 

i just bought a pair for riddlers from northridge, $200 shipped! super stout covers. I replaced my first gear lube at 1000miles, this will be the second change at 11000miles. But i do wheel a lot!

 

LOL!! i have seen a couple but the damage came from the inside out. in other words, as the diff exploded, the shrapnel blew out through the cover.

what can i say, i like the look of new diff covers and would get a set just for that but honestly, i'm with you on this and don't recal ever seeing a jeep being immobilized due to a significant hit to the diff cover. hell, i still run factory covers on my orange jk. if there is one thing i do like about some after market diff covers is that the thicker lip will help in the prevention of peeling back and causing a leak after being dragged on the rocks.

 

I think new covers are a great addition to some good skids. My first trip out wheeling I slid down a small hill and smashed my rear diff cover on a rock. No issue thankfully except it started to seep, broke the factory rtv silicone seal. Now I have ARB's front and rear with a lube locker gasket.

 

i think its more about looks and its pretty much your choice to get them or not... i would use that money somewhere else....

 

I'd been debating on getting these for a while. I'm leaning towards using the money for a full set of skids instead, probably the Treks.

I keep hearing about belly up skids but have never seen one for a JK and I'm not even sure they'd work on our Jeeps. Plus I'm not a big fan of body lifts. Any opinions on that?

 

and, there's nothing wrong with having your jeep look cool. up until i got prorock 60's under my white jk, i ran factory covers front and rear forever. and, for those of you who know what kind of wheelin i do, they did the job fine but, i do love the way my new dynatrac covers look and, the do great to not cause a leak when being dragged on rocks

 

I dented my front 44 cover playing on rocks, the dent was big enough to fit my finger in it, I missed hitting the gears by an inch or so

I replaced it with another stocker... LOL

 

with the exception of protecting your oil pan, aftermarket skid plates are totally and entirely unnecessary. trust me, i have almost 70,000 hard miles on my white jk and still run factory skids and without any problems. i do have a rancho skid for the oil pan and it works great and was cheap. i just got a benchmark designs replacement heavy duty oil pan for my orange jk and i have no doubts that it'll be the only thing needed too.

regarding belly up skids, we drive JK's and not TJ's and there's nothing you can really belly up. even if you could get your transmission cross member up higher, you would need a body lift at the very least as you've pointed out but, you would still need to do something about your gas tank. and, unlike the TJ before, the JK frame has cross members and i'm pretty sure they would get in the way of this too.

 

I did see a rear diff pan peal back enough on a rock while moving forward to leak out all the oil. I couldn't imagine this would have happen on cast iron cover. I going to buy a rear diff for now. I have a AEV rear 44 slider combined with a cast cover it will be bullet proof.