Rear Diff Covers

Macland

Titan Swapped / SAS'd
Founding Member
This is an under-discussed topic so I thought we could use a thread. I myself have been wondering how important one is and how it rates vs the other skid plates. It's the lowest hanging point on the vehicle so it would beg to reason that it would need covered. Is this train of thought correct? Is it something that should be done if you're going minimalist on skids? What brands are available for our vehicles? What are the differences between brands? What way can we differentiate between the different differentials on the second gen Xterra? Hopefully by answering these questions we can expand the knowledge base available on XN and help people out for years to come.

1) Shrockworks http://www.shrockworks.com/Differen...tion-Skid-05+-Xterra-&-Frontier-pr-16205.html

2) Blue Torch Fab www.bluetorchfab.com/Product/999/BTF-Nissan-M226-Kryptonite-Differential-Cover.aspx

3) PRG www.prgproducts.com/shop/product/m226-diff-cover/)

4) Ballistic http://www.ballisticfabrication.com/search.asp?keyword=xterra&search.x=0&search.y=0&search=GO
 
Last edited:

Fromfrontier2Xterra

I bought a Taco
Super Moderator
Supporting Member
Location
All over PA
I think your line of thinking is correct. Sliders and diff cover were my first armor purchases. I went Shrockworks route.

There is also Blue Torch Fab and PRG for other choices. If there are more please post it. Also for telling the difference, the C200 has eight bolts while the M226 has 12. See above pic for C200.
 
Last edited:

obi_krash

Suspension Lift
Location
Richmond, VA
There is also Ballistics Fab Works that make them.
(personally want that only cause of the skull emblem, vain, whatever)

As someone who has done a decent amount of wheeling in the short amount of time I have had the MX - I would say they are worth the price and time to put on. The stock cover really is not really strong, just some thin metal. Mine is peeling actually so I need to replace it ASAP.

I wouldn't say it's the first bit of armor you should get, but definitely on the list of things. You can wheel without them if you pay attention to where you are placing your tires and what is under you. But paying that $100-$120 for the cover is worth avoiding being dragged off the trail by a buddy cause you ripped your diff open.
 

Slasa

Lockers Installed
Location
Denver
I agree with sliders and diff skid/cover. Ballistic Fab also makes a full replacement cover. People could argue all day about the other skid that are most important. I.e. the gas tank is plastic so cover that. The tranny/tcase are expensive and catastrophic if you damage them on trail.
All true. Most of the time fabricators offer discounts to buy the full set of skis instead of piece by piece.
Also, check out Boulder Ironworx for a new company offering bumpers and armor. One new thing they offer that nobody else has are shock mount skids. The mounts get blasted on the rocks because they are one of the lowest points and they are easy to bend - until you go to replace your shocks and can't get the bolt out.
 

obi_krash

Suspension Lift
Location
Richmond, VA
I saw those shock skids, that is a pretty cool idea. I will have to look into them.
(sorry, off topic, but had to put it out there)

I would like to see what Boulder Ironworx can come up with. Also, if P&P gets into the mix, man we will have diff covers for days!
 

05x4x4

First Fill-Up (of many)
I have the BTF full cover and I have a hell of a time getting it to seal. It almost always has a small leak.


Sent from my iPhone4 using Tapatalk
 

civicjoe

lone wolf mod
Founding Member
Location
Nevada
I have a BTF cover, all sealed up no prob, honestly probably better than schrock due to its a full replacement rather than a cover for a cover. Seems like extra weight for no reason, also probably about the same price, there is one that xterrapa has which is a diff slider and cover, thats probably the best protection
 

Macland

Titan Swapped / SAS'd
Founding Member
I have a BTF cover, all sealed up no prob, honestly probably better than schrock due to its a full replacement rather than a cover for a cover. Seems like extra weight for no reason
I was looking at the shrock simply because I wouldn't have to remove a cover and reseal. I think it may suit my purposes. I would love to see one of these other guys develop a competing product though. I'm updating the OP with a list of options.
 

Fromfrontier2Xterra

I bought a Taco
Super Moderator
Supporting Member
Location
All over PA
Does the shrock just slip over the diff? I know - I can go bother (insert Tom's screenname here) and ask him b/c he has one.

Right. It covers the stock cover. But like Mac said, this eliminates having to drop the whole cover and refill. However, it should be noted that sometimes this will still have to done with the Shrock due to the seals breaking when you break the bolts loose. It's honestly a 50/50 gamble. I bought all new diff fluid and gasket sealant for the "just in case" factor. Luckily my seals didn't break, but it does happen.
 

maillet282

If you bleeding, Imma fix you
Moderator
Location
Ontario Canada
lots of people are having problems with the shrock/ stock cover seaping after install unless you peal back the diff cover and re seal it with new RTV . I know I had to peal everything this winther and re seal it cause I was dripping diff fluid everywhere
 

civicjoe

lone wolf mod
Founding Member
Location
Nevada
For the money Id go with any of them buy the shrock one honestly they are all about the same $$, everyone should be changing their diff fluid at least yearly if youre off roading anyway
 

Airmapper

First Fill-Up (of many)
Since you want feedback on shops, I'll give you my experience with one vendor in particular.

I personally would avoid Ballistic Fab because they are a very poor shop in my opinion, based on my interaction with them on a diff cover. Poor attention to detail, and surprisingly poor design skills despite a plethora of high tech R&D equipment. I would have forgiven a lot of this had they been at least a little graceful about the situation, but they came off as indignant and inconvenienced by dealing with me, the customer, so I wrote them off. Too bad for them though, they lost all future business from a guy who owns 3 off road vehicles.

I ordered a diff cover from them in a group buy when they developed one for the M226, and the first one didn't fit, no big deal, it's in development right? Well I send them detailed design info on where they failed to provide adequate clearance, I do mechanical design work for a living, so I think I gave them some pretty useful info on what area to not put metal in. We are talking less than .010", which in the world of synthetic oil might as well be the grand canyon, but still should be very easy to design in enough room so it would seat flush on the mating surface, which is most definitely a requirement if you ever want to keep oil in the diff.

Additionally they had pretty poor welds for such a high end shop, they had very obvious porosity, which means they didn't set it up right, left it dirty, or all the above. I let my co-workers, including 2 mechanical engineers and a toolmaker have a look at it. They were not impressed. Most telling, I had my Dad look it over, he is a weld quality tech and a certified welder, he said that it would have failed if he was inspecting it. It would have held oil, and strong enough to hold up to abuse, so I didn't have a huge issue with it, but it just wasn't as polished as it should have been, coming from an established, supposedly high end fab shop of that nature.

Well, they tell me they will have adequate clearance that on the next one they send, okay, I didn't ask them to make that commitment, but they did. They sent me another one that wouldn't seat on the flange, same clearance issues. It was better but still not right. Sure, I could have hit it with a grinder and made it work, but I take any warranty on the rest of it into my own hands if I do that, and with less than stellar welds still fresh in my mind, I'm not so sure I want that, so I call them back and ask what we can work out. At that point they just wanted to give me a refund. Okay, after that was agreed upon they get really hard to get in touch with. Thankfully I'm very persistent, friendly, but persistent. They drag their heels sending me the return label, finally milk that out of them, then I have to call daily to get my refund after 2 weeks of waiting for them to do it on their own after they got back both the covers they sent me. On top that they keep initial shipping, which I guess is their right, but shows they really didn't want to make a good impression. I send them a polite message asking about that, it was ignored.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 5am

metzican

Suspension Lift
Location
Lafaytte, la
I have a BTF cover that I got off a guy who was selling 2 of them. The reason he was selling them is due to one was not flat and the second one had leaking welds. I purchased the second one and sealed it up. But I have to say my rear diff has leaked over so slightly since I put it on. In a couple weeks and the re gearing of the rear hopefully it will be sealed properly this time.
 

OffRdX

Lockers Installed
Location
Port Orchard, WA
Sorry to hear you had a bad experience with Ballistic Fab. I also bought a cover during their group buy, I didn't have any issues with the one they sent me. It sealed up great and looks awesome. Based on my experience I would recommend it for someone looking for a rear diff cover.

Ballistic Fab M226 Diff Cover
null_zpsae141fab.jpg


null_zpsc7c8f671.jpg
 
Last edited:

NickX

Bought an X
Great timing...I was just searching for this exact thread today after a weekend at Rausch. We wheeled in the pouring rain all day Friday, and there was lots of banging from big rocks hiding under 1-2 feet of water. It looks like I may have slightly pinched the rear diff seal since there was a strip hanging off the bottom of it, but no leaks so far. Needless to say, diff cover has moved up on the priority list, haha.

I'm also leaning Shrock for the reasons mentioned above, though lead times will factor in to my final decision.
 

Mr Bills

Bought an X
Location
Area Code 530
Also, check out Boulder Ironworx for a new company offering bumpers and armor. One new thing they offer that nobody else has are shock mount skids.

Rocky Road Outfitters has been selling shock skids for Titans for quite some time, which fit on Xterras with the M226 rear axle (perhaps the C200 as well but I didn't ask). I cannot be certain, but it appears that the Boulder Ironworx product is a knockoff of those.
 
Last edited:

Deltaphi216

First Fill-Up (of many)
Founding Member
Location
STL
any suggestions for a c200? my ballistic fab cover is leaking like CRAZY through the welds. I didn't buy it from them directly though, so i can't send it back.
 

05x4x4

First Fill-Up (of many)
I have a blue torch cover and it does tend to leak a bit. The cover is solid as a rock and I've beat the hell out of it on rocks, but it does seep a bit.


Sent from my iPhone4 using Tapatalk
 

TJTJ

Skid Plates
Founding Member
Location
NJ
There are thick gaskets (Like rope gaskets) that can fill the gaps on uneven diff covers, etc, and cure leaks.

Plan B is to grind the mating surfaces flat like they should have been from the get go.
 

Deltaphi216

First Fill-Up (of many)
Founding Member
Location
STL
There are thick gaskets (Like rope gaskets) that can fill the gaps on uneven diff covers, etc, and cure leaks.

Plan B is to grind the mating surfaces flat like they should have been from the get go.

yeah, the mating surface is perfect. It just has crappy welds and it's leaking through them.
 

N.Y.X.

Bought an X
Location
Denver, CO
Zack, just pop it off, clean it good with brake cleaner and have someone go over the internal welds and should be g2g. BTF's covers are far from flat, not only did they send me the wrong one and made me miss a trip because of their mistake (called and confirmed with multiple people that they had the correct m226 one in stock) but they also stretched out the whole process with very poor customer service.

BTF may have awesome stuff for their crawlers and their larger pro builds but this is the only thing they make for our rig and when it comes down to customer service they know they're not going to lose the business over it and just don't give a sh*t. More info on BTF: http://www.thenewx.org/forum/showthread.php?t=68122

BF had their issues with SOME of their covers, mine along with a lot of others fit perfectly fine without adjustments. But they still have no excuse for the poor customer service that they provided to those who DID have an issue like Airmapper above. More info on BF: http://www.thenewx.org/forum/showthread.php?t=76169

As far as whoever made the comment about Boulder IronWorks knocking off anything that Rocky Road Outfitters makes is BS as 99% of the items that we get for our rigs has been done by someone else before. Did BF knock off BTF's diff plate? No, the m226 diff plate is the exact same as the next one as it's designed to fit the m226 (D44 variant) specifically. Its ALMOST the same exact cover as the D44 except has 12 bolts rather than 10 that the D44 has. Reason for this is Nissan went with a 3rd party E-Locker manufacturer (gkn I think?) rather than going with the same locker company that Dana puts in their axles. So if we went with this same ideology every single manufacturer has knocked off another in our market.

But back to the topic, bottom line, the best option you have for the m226 are as follows:
For protection: The Titan M226 rear skid option is going to be the best option. The other full cover options (BF, BTF) are stronger than stock and will likely not seep from taking a direct impact but they still do not protect the bottom of the housing from being dragged over rocks which can put deep gashes in the lower housing and make it leak over time. By adding the "axle rock guard" this will fully protect the housing from any foreign objects.
http://www.rocky-road.com/titandiffguard.html

For Cooling purposes: The PRG version or the Magtec will be best for keeping the rear diff cool but I am not overly sure how strong it is and if it would hold up to say someone backing up abruptly into a rock, directly impacting the cover.
http://www.prgproducts.com/shop/product/m226-diff-cover/
https://www.4x4parts.com/nissan/titan-maghytec-rear-differential-cover-p-5959.html

For ultimate cooling and protection I would recommend the Axle Rock guard along with the PRG cover.

For the c200 guys, I believe one of these will work as a diff skid:
https://www.4x4parts.com/nissan/advanced_search_result.php?keywords=differential+skid&x=0&y=0
 

TJTJ

Skid Plates
Founding Member
Location
NJ
yeah, the mating surface is perfect. It just has crappy welds and it's leaking through them.

Holy ****, that's a bad weld then. I don't think I've ever seen a professionally welded diff cover leak at the WELDS...that's pretty bad. It typically means they didn't have good penetration on the welds, and, THAT means if you hit a rock, etc, they'll probably break open...defeating the PURPOSE of an armor diff cover.

Are you SURE Ballistic made it, and some guy didn't weld up a clone and pass it off to who you bought it from as a Ballistic, etc?

People DO do that sort of thing. For example, when Shrockworks sliders came out, they were heavily copied, and, some were sold AS Shrock's by unscrupulous sellers, etc.
 

Deltaphi216

First Fill-Up (of many)
Founding Member
Location
STL
Zack, just pop it off, clean it good with brake cleaner and have someone go over the internal welds and should be g2g. BTF's covers are far from flat, not only did they send me the wrong one and made me miss a trip because of their mistake (called and confirmed with multiple people that they had the correct m226 one in stock) but they also stretched out the whole process with very poor customer service.

BTF may have awesome stuff for their crawlers and their larger pro builds but this is the only thing they make for our rig and when it comes down to customer service they know they're not going to lose the business over it and just don't give a sh*t. More info on BTF: http://www.thenewx.org/forum/showthread.php?t=68122

BF had their issues with SOME of their covers, mine along with a lot of others fit perfectly fine without adjustments. But they still have no excuse for the poor customer service that they provided to those who DID have an issue like Airmapper above. More info on BF: http://www.thenewx.org/forum/showthread.php?t=76169

As far as whoever made the comment about Boulder IronWorks knocking off anything that Rocky Road Outfitters makes is BS as 99% of the items that we get for our rigs has been done by someone else before. Did BF knock off BTF's diff plate? No, the m226 diff plate is the exact same as the next one as it's designed to fit the m226 (D44 variant) specifically. Its ALMOST the same exact cover as the D44 except has 12 bolts rather than 10 that the D44 has. Reason for this is Nissan went with a 3rd party E-Locker manufacturer (gkn I think?) rather than going with the same locker company that Dana puts in their axles. So if we went with this same ideology every single manufacturer has knocked off another in our market.

But back to the topic, bottom line, the best option you have for the m226 are as follows:
For protection: The Titan M226 rear skid option is going to be the best option. The other full cover options (BF, BTF) are stronger than stock and will likely not seep from taking a direct impact but they still do not protect the bottom of the housing from being dragged over rocks which can put deep gashes in the lower housing and make it leak over time. By adding the "axle rock guard" this will fully protect the housing from any foreign objects.
http://www.rocky-road.com/titandiffguard.html

For Cooling purposes: The PRG version or the Magtec will be best for keeping the rear diff cool but I am not overly sure how strong it is and if it would hold up to say someone backing up abruptly into a rock, directly impacting the cover.
http://www.prgproducts.com/shop/product/m226-diff-cover/
https://www.4x4parts.com/nissan/titan-maghytec-rear-differential-cover-p-5959.html

For ultimate cooling and protection I would recommend the Axle Rock guard along with the PRG cover.

For the c200 guys, I believe one of these will work as a diff skid:
https://www.4x4parts.com/nissan/advanced_search_result.php?keywords=differential+skid&x=0&y=0

The problem is that i tossed the factory cover and my x is my daily driver. I can't go without the truck for even a day. I ordered a new one from ballistic. should be here next week.

Holy ****, that's a bad weld then. I don't think I've ever seen a professionally welded diff cover leak at the WELDS...that's pretty bad. It typically means they didn't have good penetration on the welds, and, THAT means if you hit a rock, etc, they'll probably break open...defeating the PURPOSE of an armor diff cover.

Are you SURE Ballistic made it, and some guy didn't weld up a clone and pass it off to who you bought it from as a Ballistic, etc?

People DO do that sort of thing. For example, when Shrockworks sliders came out, they were heavily copied, and, some were sold AS Shrock's by unscrupulous sellers, etc.

I'll compare it when it comes it, but I'm 90% sure it's an authentic cover. It does have the skull (that you can buy directly), but the welds LOOK good. they just weep oil like crazy. I'll compare then when the new one comes it. There was a run of covers from Ballistic that had issues with porous welds. But since I didn't buy it from them directly, there's no warranty. Alex did say that i bought the last c200 cover they had on the shelf. FINGERS CROSSED THAT IT'S GOOD!
 

metzican

Suspension Lift
Location
Lafaytte, la
Mine leaks through the welds but I bought it knowing this. I thought I fixed the problem but it still seeps but it is so slow I don't think it is a big deal. I should of had it fixed when I redid my gears but for some reason it slipped my mind.
 

TJTJ

Skid Plates
Founding Member
Location
NJ
or grind down the outside and weld it again. you just don't want to warp it.

Yeah, you'd grind it down (Outside too in most cases) to expose the unmelted parts and have a clean solid substrate to work with, then re-weld it with full penetration and no holes/cavities, etc. You then grind it down again to remove stress risers, etc, and leave a nice solid flush surface.
 
Top