Just imagine what the rear end of your Super Duty
feels like when lugging that loaded toy box trailer up the Baker
Grade in the dead of summer. There you are blazing by Bun Boy at 85
MPH with with Rob Zombie screaming in your ear, the air
conditioning cranking out Arctic air, and the ambient air
temperature eclipsing the 120-degree mark on the world's tallest
thermometer. Meanwhile, that 15,000-pounds of pleasure hitched to
the tow ball is blazing a trail of smoked gear oil. What do you
care? You're heading to cool off in the river or crank up the ATV
action with an epic trip through the cooler climates of Utah.
As you can see,
the UltraDuty Aluminum Finned Differential Cover is a well-crafted
and a purpose built bolt-on product. It installs in about an hour
and not only protects your rear end gear oil from high-heat
viscosity breakdown but allows you to easily service the
fluid.
The bottom line is, when you're towing a heavy load
of any kind, your rear end gear oil creeps into the dangerously hot
zone, sending your gears in motion for a nuclear melt down. When
you've got the ultimate tow rig, you've got to take certain
precautions to ensure its longevity in the most extreme conditions.
Outfitting your Super Duty with the UltraDuty Aluminum Finned
Differential Cover is just one step toward preparing your truck for
a long successful life.
From Baja To Burnout
On our way back from a quick trip to Baja with the
Jeep and dirt bikes in tow, we decided it was time to swap out that
old light duty stock differential cover with the new cast aluminum
finned differential cover from UltraDuty. After unhitching the Jeep
and unloading the bikes and camping gear, I outfitted myself with
the surgical gloves, grabbed a cold one and went to work.
Unfortunately, I didn't have a thermometer handy to
warn me of how hot the rear end was, but the latex gloves told the
tale. After unbolting half the bolts securing the OEM cover, my
right hand glove had melted to my hand like a shrink wrap, and my
fingers looked like a cooked sausages, indicating how hot that rear
end was just a half-hour after we parked the beast. I was
impressed. I'd never thought about how hot a rear end can get. But
one thing was for sure, we were solving this problem, right
now.
The CNC Machined
diff cover fits snug into position, and after 10,000 miles logged,
does not leak. We've had the pleasure of dragging it over one rock
in the upper elevations of Northern Nevada and are pleased to
report that it held the rear end weight of the truck without
fail.
As The Gears Turn
The UltraDuty install was simple, taking little over
an hour to complete and requiring a only handful of tools and
supplies. Not only is the UltraDuty one of the coolest-looking diff
covers on the market, but it serves an important purpose.
The stock diff cover is stamped from sheet metal,
hardly an efficient conductor of heat. In fact, mild steel is three
times less as efficient a thermal conductor as aluminum.
The UltraDuty Differential Cover's deep fins help
conduct heat away from the gear lubricant, improving oil viscosity,
and the life of your seals, bearings, and gears. UltraDuty claims
that the design of these fins transfers heat out of the
differential lube at a rate of 30% greater than its nearest
competitor.
Slippery Or Smoked
As you well know, oil viscosity plummets as the
temperature increases. As the temperature increases, so does the
chance for mechanical failure. By keeping the differential cool and
the viscosity of the differential lubricant high, you're protecting
your investment and securing the reliability of your tow rig.
UltraDuty
Features
Cast Aluminum Finned Differential Cover. From all
indications, the biggest fins in the business.
CNC Machined Surfaces and Bolt Holes. It's truly a
masterpiece. It looks cool and means business. A fit that is snug
and accurate.
Stainless Steel Fasteners. Rust no more. UltraDuty
uses quality stainless steel fasteners.
20% Increased Volume over Stock. Believe it. The
old diff just can't measure up to the UltraDuty.
Marlin Crawler Magnetic Drain Plug. The stock diff
cover doesn't even offer a drain plug. This attribute makes for
10-minute gear oil changes every 20,000 miles. The magnet keeps the
metals from binding in the gears and wearing their life down
prematurely.
Tools You'll
Need
screw driver
brake cleaner
rags
low-strength thread locking agent (locktite
blue)
black silicone RTV
Disposable rubber glove
3/8" ratchet and extension
1/2" ratchet and extension
13mm socket
Valvoline Synthetic Gear Lube
Safety glasses
1/4" Allen key
Drain pan
UltraDuty
Install
FIRST
THINGS FIRST: You want to park the truck on an even surface.
This way, when you fill the truck up with gear oil, it is in fact
as full as it appears to be. I'd explain further, but if you can't
figure this out, know better than to proceed with this operation
and drive your rig to the nearest service shop. Have them save you
the trouble you could cause with a wrench in your
hand.
TWO:
Make sure you're 8,000-pound monster is in park (first gear if it's
a manual), has the parking brake on, has the wheels chalked, and
the keys out of the ignition and far away from the reach of anyone
who might drive off with you attached valiantly to the rear end. At
this point, you should consider placing the rig on jack
stands.
NOTE: I opted out of the jack stand option. With the
Ford Super Duty 4x4 package, there's more than enough room to slide
around down below and get the job done.
THREE:
Ultra Duty recommends dropping the spare tire in order to have
greater access to the rear end.
FOUR:
Being as lazy as I can get away with being, do you think I expended
any more energy than I needed to? No way. In this shot, the tire is
still up there, but you just can't see it, illustrating that there
is plenty of room to easily get the job done well within an hour's
time.
FIVE:
Slide a clean board and a drain pan into position beneath the
pumpkin (rear end). Grab whatever rags are available and keep them
handy in case of spills or splatters.
SIX:
Remove one fastener from the cover. Replace it with the new
stainless steel bolt provided by UltraDuty, making sure that it in
fact fits. BAM! Beautiful. It fits. Remove the rest of them bolts.
The silicone that came with the truck from the factory will hold
the differential cover in place.
NOTE:
Place the axle tags in a secure place such as with the service
manual in the glove box. They indicate which axle you have, the
recommended gear lube and the gear ratio you're
running.
SEVEN:
Using a flat head screw driver or two, gently pry the pumpkin open,
keeping the other hand on the cover to prevent it from dropping.
Allow the gear oil to drain before completely removing the cover.
This way you don't end up with a raging torrent in your lap. Once
removed, clean the pocket just inside the differential where gear
lube collects and often overflows from.
EIGHT:
It's time to clean the contact surface of the differential,
removing any old silicon. Once this is done, rub your bare finger
over the surface, it should be smooth as silk. Watch for any burs
or irregularities along the outer edge that usually result from
smacking and sliding over rocks during off-road use. Remove them
with a file. Be careful not to make the problem worse. You want the
surface to be as clean and smooth as possible in order to provide a
perfect seal and prevent leaks.
NOTE: While you're in there, keep an eye on the ring
and pinion for excessive wear such as heavy metal shavings, burs,
gouges and highly irregular scratches. If you find any, consult a
trusted gear man, such asRandy's Ring and
Pinion.
NINE:
Thoroughly clean all contact surfaces with brake cleaner, this
includes both the differential as well as the
cover.
10:
Apply a bead of silicon gasket maker. We used Permatex Ultra Black
OEM Hi-Temp RTV Silicon. You don't need gobs of it, just enough to
form a perimeter around the entire contact surface and fastener
holes.
11:
Prepare each of the stainless steel fasteners with low-strength
Permatex Blue Thread Locker.
12:
It's time to apply your new UltraDuty Aluminum Differential Cover.
I'm uncertain of the exact specs, but I torqued the 1/4-inch hex
bolts using some common sense. Don't overdue it. Just enough to
firmly snug the cover is all you need.
13: A
drain plug is a welcomed attribute of the UltraDuty Cover. To keep
it from leaking, we used a very small amount of silicon around the
threads. CAUTION. DO NOT OVERTIGHTEN.
14:
Now, it's time to fill the differential. To remove the fill plug,
you'll need a 3/8-inch ratchet.
14:
Naturally, the drain plug was coated with metal shavings from the
normal wear of the gears. We just cleaned it off, and prepped it
with more silicon for when we're done topping off the pumpkin with
gear lube.
15: We
loaded up with four quarts of Mobil 1 Synthetic Gear Lube and one
tube of Sta-Lube Equa-Torque Differential Oil Additive, since our
Ford Super Duty 4x4 came with a limited slip differential. The
easiest way to add the limited slip additive is add it to pour it
into the gear lube bottles and pour it in that way rather than
squeezing the tube directly into the fill hole.
NOTE: When we got to the last bottle, we noticed that
despite the bottles being located on the same shelf at the parts
store and having the same exact labeling on the front of the
bottle, the grade of lube was drastically different on one of the
Mobil bottles. When we returned to the parts store, we looked
around and noticed the stock was mismatched, and it was difficult
to identify the grade of the Mobil bottles. Looking at one of my
favorite brands, we noticed that the Valvoline bottles were easily
identifiable on the front of the label. Because of this and the
fact that I've been using Valvoline in my vehicles with success for
years, I went with the easily identifiable Valvoline to replace the
Mobil lube.
16:
You're last step is to check for leaks. We had none whatsoever. We
followed up with a quick check after a few hours, a full day on the
road and even a week later, which turned out to be 1,500 miles of
asphalt and dirt. No leaks.
Contact UltraDuty for the Ultimate Differential
Cover
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