All good tips guys, thank you.

 

I'm thinking that by the time you spend the time to tape off to spray paint, you could probably have already painted it with a small brush by hand

 

That's my plan of attack is hand painting with hobby brush and paint.

 

Just take a small roller and roll them. The spider is raised so it takes about 2 minutes to do.

 

Riddlers, and way below the specified torque. It's not the diff covers, it's the Lubelockers. Best thing to do is, every time you remove the diff cover run a thread chaser through each hole (or just a tap if you don't have a thread restoring kit, but be careful to not cut new threads). I didn't do it the other day because I had already done it during a previous opening of the diff. And still busted a bolt. Third time I've broken a bolt (but I have 267,000 miles on this Jeep, so they've been opened a lot).

Broken grade 5 bolt ...


Stretched grade 8 bolt--it felt funny as it was going in, so decided to back it out and check it ...

 

Good reminder Mark that checking those blind holes isn't a bad idea and if something doesn't feel right to pull it apart and look. I need to build a little chaser for when I service my diffs again. Die grinder and an old bolt have worked well in other places.

 

I've repurposed old bolts like this too. A nice set of thread restorers like Mark has is still on the top of my wish list, but dang i keep putting off pulling the trigger on one of those sets.

 

To paint the covers I suggest one obtain a wooden glue roller that is used for gluing leather etc to a flat surface. Coat the roller in paint and carefully roll across the protruding symbol you want to paint in your chosen colour. Looks very professional as well.

 

Sounds like a great idea.

 

I bought one of these a while ago and I've run into a bunch of occasions to use it. It's really nice having the right tools, even just the thread repair tool vs the same size tap is a BIG difference.