Differential Cover Gasket With Or Without

The PO had used orange silicone on the differential covers at some point. How many of you guys use the gasket only vs a little non hardening on the gasket vs RTV only?

 

Silicone actually stops more leaks. Personal preference. It depends on how often you go through water as to how much expense you want to go with gaskets vs silicone. There are also reuseable cover gaskets now.

 

that's the route I went with. I go through and drain my diffs once a year. much nicer than peeling off an old gasket or rtv/silicone stuff.

 

I use Permatex"the right stuff" on everything like that. So does the shop my brother is a mechanic at and they have used it for atleast the 20 years he has worked there. Personally Iv never had a leak with it. I dont use regular blue or orange silicone only in a pinch. I have had leaks with it and I hate the smell.

 

Well, if everything is nice and flat?, no sealant?
Or, glue, seal, gasket to cover, then grease on dif, then a std gasket become reusable?

 

WITH. Tried the front and it dripped no matter how clean the surfaces or how tight.

 

Once bolts are torqued with a gasket the cover likely puckers around the bolt holes, especially thin aftermarket covers. After that Id say best to stick with gaskets and THIN skim of sealant.

I'm changing to the reusable gaskets next time. Also tired of scraping, and if not for that hassle I think Id change my lube more often.

 

With a gasket, I like the Permatex Aviation Form-A-Gasket that comes in the can with a brush cap. This is almost identical to the gasket sealer you could buy at GM back in the day. I much prefer it to silicone on gaskets. Hondabond is supposed to be the best thing going if you are using sealer and no gasket.

 

I've slowly been replacing everything with lube locker reusables. Haven't removed any covers yet but installation has been easy. No goo

 

My thoughts are if I get it drip free, don't mess with it. For some crazy reason I don't understand, all the video, etc I see on changing the diff fluid even on these Willys, people take the covers off to drain. These things have a drain plug so just drain and refill. I get you should occasionally check the innards, especially if driving them hard, but my thoughts are the differentials in cars far outlive the vehicle and vast majority never have fluid even changed. So my game plan is to change fluid once a year and see if I see any garbage, then pull the cover. I don't know how many real miles Willie has on him, but the original locked up odometer said 15,000. The FSM says check level every 24,000 and I could find no mention of changing it out. I seriously doubt I'll put 24,000 on him quickly so maybe pull the cover in another 5-7 years but change yearly for longevity.

 

Only time it really needs to be changed would be carnage or water contamination.

 

X2

 

The reason to change at closer intervals, than 24K is ,
This is a JEEP, the dif fluid usually gets ,NASTY, doing water crossings, playing in deep mud.
And some of are a little OCD?

 

The FSM just says to check the fluid level, not change it, which I found interesting. I would agree if doing lots of pushing it crawling, mudding, etc., it's a good idea to change with some level of regularity. It's not expensive and with the drain plug, it's pretty easy so once a year or so for me.

 

A drain plug? What's that?Don't believe mine has?

 

On the under side of both the front 25 and rear 44 are drain plugs. Then use a 1/2" ratchet (meaning the are female) to take out. Here is pic of front but rear is same. Maybe yours is coated in grease and muck? Also notice no drip now that I redid it with RTV.

 

With or without gasket doesn't matter, just get a coat of rtv or motoseal on surfaces and go. Also, unless you get water in the differentials (raise the breathers before this happens) you could change the fluid daily or after 30,000 miles and see the same result.