I'm a newbie here but have had lots of offroad experience and fabrication for many trucks. I own a 02 QC that has 109K and 265/75 R16 tires as the only modification.
It seems that from what I have seen and read here that the failures of the front diffs mainly are not the gears, CVs or shafts, but the housing itself.
I had the QC up on the lift last night (I have one in my shop at home. It was either do the lift or spend that kind of $$ at the chiropractor..) And while changing the oil I was taking a very good look at the front diff.
I wonder if making a 'girdle' to encase the housing and mount points would go farther towards helping the housing to not 'grenade' as it seems they are prone to do with 33-35" tires. I can see where 1/4 plate from the top front to rear upper housing mounts and possibly even wrapping around the housing would help to keep things together.
It wouldn't completely solve the problem but it would help I am sure.
In the pictures shown here in this forum it looks like a lot of the failures are around the mount points where the housing attaches and places too much stress and of course the material doesn't bend, it breaks.
What am I missing in this line of thought? What have I overlooked?
It seems that from what I have seen and read here that the failures of the front diffs mainly are not the gears, CVs or shafts, but the housing itself.
I had the QC up on the lift last night (I have one in my shop at home. It was either do the lift or spend that kind of $$ at the chiropractor..) And while changing the oil I was taking a very good look at the front diff.
I wonder if making a 'girdle' to encase the housing and mount points would go farther towards helping the housing to not 'grenade' as it seems they are prone to do with 33-35" tires. I can see where 1/4 plate from the top front to rear upper housing mounts and possibly even wrapping around the housing would help to keep things together.
It wouldn't completely solve the problem but it would help I am sure.
In the pictures shown here in this forum it looks like a lot of the failures are around the mount points where the housing attaches and places too much stress and of course the material doesn't bend, it breaks.
What am I missing in this line of thought? What have I overlooked?
