Riddler all the way, baby!

 

I've been very happy with my ARB's, but if I were to do it today I'd go with River Raider's new covers.

 

I like the magnetic plugs on the ARBs.
The Riddler would be my second choice.

 

I'm going with the ARBs, do they have an opening to run air to their air lockers or do you still need to drill a hole?

 

I would assume you would still drill a hole in the housing. If not you would have to remove the air line fitting every time you needed to take it off, not to mention the hard line wouldn't like it very much. It would be a great idea if it did work that way though.

 

I wouldn't buy a cast cover even for a boat anchor.

 

...and the reason is...???

The nodular iron cast iron covers are ductile, i.e. soft and malleable. It will take a hit.

Are you thinking of old-fashioned cast iron? That went out about the same time the internet came in.

 

No. I'm thinking of high strength steel such as 1/4". Most all of the high strength steel covers faired much better in the JP Magazine cover shootout than the cast models. Cast metal tends to break or crack rather than stretch. See for yourself. Nothing old fashioned about it.

http://www.jpmagazine.com/techarticles/drivetrain/154_0708_bulletproof_test/index.html

 

Riddler for sure. Best shape for a diff cover.

 

I see your point. No, wait, I don't. I haven't been shot at (much) on the trail lately.

For lack of someone offering a better way of realistically performing a diff test, I'll go with the results of this one for now. Here's the results summarized.

Where exactly does it state the superiority of high-strength steel? The last one that's 1 inch thick? Cast Iron and Cast Steel hang tough. The Great Lakes Extreme Offroad came in behind both Cast Iron and Cast Steel. It isn't until it is beefed up to extraordinary lengths does it win.