Well, after owning my truck for 5 years, I finally *needed* 4WD. It was almost exciting. Drove all the way from Evansville IN to Bloomington IN during the snow last week with the fronts under power!

Anyhow. I've got 80K on my truck and I've done my rear diff fluid twice. Guess I'm going to change my front fluid now.

I've got a 6" lift and they tell me the Mag-Hytek pan won't fit on the front with a drop bracket. The PML pans at DPP look pretty decent, except the natural aluminum color is a little ugly, (my opinion).

Do you think the PML pan will dirty up and not stand out when looking at the front end? Or does anyone else have any suggestions for a front diff cover for a 2000 PSD?

I don't really care if it's a work of art like a mag-hytek, just want a dipstick and a drain plug.

 

Yeah there were some issues with the bracket contacting the cover on lower lifts. I can't remember for sure what the cutoff was ...but depending on how high you are you can clear it. For example..I have 10.5" of lift and there is no way my bracket is going to contact the front diff cover. So to say "any" truck with the bracket in question will not work is not an entirely true statement (as stated on some websites)

 

For a heavy duty cover for the front I was going to recommend the Dynatrac Extreme Duty Nodular Iron diff cover......it has a hammertone looking powdercoat on it. I run a modified one of them on my truck.
Very nice, and heavy duty...has a fill plug.....but no dipstick or drain plug.

 

I had the same questions about clearance on the front MH. I've got a 6" procomp lift and my drag link bracket doesn't look like it'd cause a problem.

Thanks for the comments.

 

I can see than if you are going to change the front cover that you'll have to refill the oil but if you only use 4x4 as little as you man I really don't think it's necessary to change that expensive oil. That stuff is very thick and lasts a good long time. I've only changed my rear diff. fluid at 100k and it still looked usable but as you know it has 100k miles of continuous use. My front diff. has probably less than a thousand miles on it and its fine. I'm sure your front diffy probably has had much less abuse than mine. Another note to remember is that those are straight axels on the front which means the outer bearings of the inner axle gets absolutely no lubrication while not in use. That being said water will eventually seep past the seales and rust the metal so it is more important to excersize 4x4 every month or two rather than change your front diffy oil frequently. I believe that dynatrac cover looks tough and bad to the bone.

 

You'll find that if you don't wash the covers they will get dirty and basically not show up. The PML's are clear anodized so that if you want to keep them clean they clean up real easy etc. Keesp the crud out the pores of the aluminum, they will powder coat or full polish the covers too as an option. You can't go wrong with the PML, best price, best fit and it'll fit your truck. Call us if you have any questiosn etc.

Mark @ DPPI