Fellas,
Do yall know of any reputable places and/or brands of FRONT & REAR differential covers? I have a 2005 F250 and i need to service both diffs and would like to just go with new covers for both the front and rear. Thanks, any input is appreciated

 

Mag-Hytec seems to be the gold standard, and they price them that way too. It's not worth it to me, with just standard HP output. What I would consider is just buying a new OEM steel front cover and having it powder coated (or chromed) in advance of starting the service. I'm sure there are other brands out there too.

 

Here is an option
03-07 6.0L Covers

 

Sandblast the old ones, and paint with a quality paint (and primer).

Ford has an aluminum finned cover for the rear, for the 2008-up diesels that fit the eariler rear ends. We have a Ford dealer parts guy as a sponsor here, Ed. Pretty cheap.

I took my old rusty rear cover on my '01, sanded, primed with zinc chromate primer, painted with Volvo Marine silver metallic, and it still looks great after 3 or 4 years.

 

Expensive

 

Actually, they do require different weight lubricants.

Front diff (Dana 60) calls for Motorcraft SAE 80W-90 Premium Rear Axle Lubricant @ 5.8 pints

Rear diff (10.5) calls for Motorcraft SAE 75W-140 Synthetic Rear Axle Lubricant @ 6.9 pints

 

Does anyone know if Ford makes an alum. cover for the DRW Dana 80?

 

That's right now that I think about it, I guess they figure the front one is light duty.

 

Nope, it's just the difference between a Dana and a Ford/Sterling

I remember reading (here on FTE) that when the Sterlings first came out, they used conventional 75w90 or so, but they had a lot of failures. Using 75w140 synthetic made the problem go away. Not sure if that's true or not. I think the issue was the front pinion bearing overheating.

Which doesn't surprise me. Lots of 8.8's and other Ford stuff I've opened up has some non-Timken brand (NTN?) front pinion bearing in it. They ALL have signs of overheating. Every other bearing in the unit is Timken and looks perfect, and I've even seen some units with Timken front pinion bearings that looked perfect. Replacing that front pinion bearing with a Timken, and after taking them back apart years later, never seen any problems.

 

Great write up, Thanks Bill. This one is going on my list for sure.

 

Good write up, rep given

 

A tip for the "**** perfectionists,,,"

**** Perfectionist or not,,, it's a good idea to drain the axle tubes/sleeves when servicing your axles to avoid the few ounces of old gear oil that can be sitting in there mixing in with your fresh "exspensive!" synthetic or not gear oil and or friction modifier.


While draining the gear oil jack up each side of the axles (one side at a time) to drain the fluid from the tubes/sleeves. Depending on the angle your truck is resting on there can be a few onces of gear oil in the tubes/sleeves.

When servicing my vehicles I try to park with a slight angle to one side or the other to allow one side of the tubes/sleeves to drain with the initial draining of the oil.
When that portion of the draining process is done I jack up the lower side to allow the trapped oil in that side to drain. I always allow at least a few hours or over night of drain time to make sure I get as much of the old oil out as possible.

Service safely,,, use good wheel blocks and common sense when taking on what should be a painless and simple project.

Rick...

 

How do you remove the oil out in the bearing wells in the hub? That won't just run out by tilting the axle.

There must be a few ounces trapped in there, and it probably has a higher percentage of bearing wear particles than anywhere.

Pop

 

Can we GET anymore ****?

I didn't realize there was anywhere else the gear oil would pool. I thought I was getting pretty much all the gear oil possible by tilting the axle a good foot or so for a few hours on each side.

Rick...

 

Ha ha, let it sit for 3 days so the oil drains from the top of the bango. then jack up the left and right letting it sit for 2 days each.