Ford aluminum diff cover cracked

[rusty1161]

Anybody have a crack like this in the Ford aluminum diff cover? Just wondering if this is a thing, hoping when I pull the cover to replace it I don’t find more carnage and it’s just a fluke casting flaw or something like that. Thanks.

Rusty

 

[rusty1161]

I was able to pull the cover off and something hit the cover and caused the leak and damage. I also found two bolt heads in the bottom of the housing, but cannot figure out where they came from. Every bolt appears to be in place, and for information sake, there is a Truetrac differential installed. Weird thing to happen.

 

[rusty1161]

Well, I found where the bolt heads came from. Now on to how to fix it.

 

[rusty1161]

After some searching, sounds like the bolts holding the Truetrac together get loose and you can can end up like me with sheared off bolt heads. Check your Truetracs and throw some Loctite on the bolts before installation.

 

[Patrick Feeley]

If two grade 8 bolts sheared, I would probably replace the others as well. Cheers!

 

[rusty1161]

If two grade 8 bolts sheared, I would probably replace the others as well. Cheers!

After digging into it further, a total of three bolt heads sheared off. The other three bolts were loose. And they had blue thread locker on them. So it is going back together with Grade 9 bolts and thread locker, and all 12 bolts are being replaced.