So I got my covers painted up and installed the front only to find out that the fill plug doesn't tighten. You can literally run it through the cover by hand and it will fall into the diff. Has anyone else had this problem? They way my luck has been going lately probably not. Teflon thread sealant isn't going to cut it for how loose they are either. Of course it's Saturday and I can't call Riddler. Anyone have any good suggestions like where to find a plug that will actually let me put 20-25 lb/ft of torque on it?

 

I had riddlers on my 2012 rubi for like a whole hour or two till i found out my front cover and trackbar hated eachother. On the plugs you dont need a lot of torque 20 sounds high. I had them on my tj and all i did was snug em up a bit and never had any leaks. always used teflon tape.

 

Sorry I can't be of any help as to where to get a new plug, although if the hole was tapped too large it doesn't sound like replacing the plug is going to help anyways. Did you try using the plugs from your stock diff cover yet? That's what I used because i wanted to be able to use a standard 3/8" ratchet to remove the plugs.

I had a slight problem with my cover too. One of the recesses where the bolts goes wasn't large enough for me to be able to fit a socket over the bolt. I ended up having to take one of my sockets to the bench grinder in order to make it a SUPER thin-walled socket. Thankfully the bolts don't require much torque, so using a super thin-walled socket was possible.

If the plug from your stock cover doesn't work, then I'd take the cover back to where you got it from.

On a side note, my Riddler cover makes contact with my RK track bar as well. I see the paint marks, but I can't feel it happening while offroad or anything. I kept the cover on there anyways. Not sure what damage could really occur from the track bar making occasional contact with the diff cover. Considering it probably only happens at slow speeds while rock crawling, I can't imagine it hurting either the track bar or diff cover since both of them are so strong.

Edit*** And regarding torque, I just torqued the plug down until it was good and tight. With the teflon tape on there I'm sure it's not going anywhere. As for the bolts themselves, I believe they are only 3/8" grade 5 bolts and can only be torqued to 17 ft/lbs. I used lube lockers with my cover and only did 17 ft/lbs and haven't have a single drip yet. <knock on wood> And I've done plenty of offroading since the install too. The paint tells me they've taken some really hard hits.

 

Yeah, I usually snug them up and have done many diff cover/fluid changes and always go with around 20 and never had a problem. These plugs run right through the fill hole without even putting a wrench on them!

Stock plug does the same thing too. I just ran down to Advance and took my rear cover with me. They had a 1/2 NPT plug and the same thing happened. It ran right through the cover without a wrench. There was a machining error on these for sure! Apparently I got two bad covers with threaded fill plug holes that are too large. I may just send these back to Quadratec and get some ARB covers. It sucks because I don't want to spend that much money on covers, but oh well.

 

Definitely something wrong with it. Exchange it for another. Most company's will take care of you if it is a defective product.

 

Agreed. I wouldn't give up on Riddler over this. Sucks that you had a crappy experience with this first set, but I watched a video of guys abusing the hell out of the Riddler cover and it amazed me what these things stood up to. I'm convinced they're solid as a rock and can take a beating. I definitely wouldn't drop the dime on an ARB cover for almost twice the cost. I wonder why the ARB covers are so much more?

 

I have had the Riddlers for quite awhile now. The plugs definitely snug up and shouldn't run straight through.

The ARB covers are expensive...I imagine some of it is the name you are buying. They also have a dipstick so maybe thats worth another 80 bucks?

You have to be careful though because the ARB covers stick out a lot more than the Riddlers. If your track bar is rubbing on a Riddler cover they will definitely rub the ARB.

 

Yeah I was happy with them at first and I may give them another try, but my Jeep is sitting in my garage now with no diff covers on it. I am heading to wheelin for hope in VA on Friday so I don't have a lot of time to get this figured out on Monday with shipping and painting another set. I guess I could throw the stockers back on but the front is dinged. Oh well, I will figure something out.

 

Your front track bar? I have a JKS front track bar and a lot of clearance with the Riddler. I may be ok.

 

Stock right now. Working on putting together a RK 2.5 kit.

Hey if you need a OEM cover I have a clean one laying around the garage you can have...I am just down the road from you in the Burlington area.