I’ve owned my Samurai for over 6 years now. I have been 4wheeling it from the day I bought it. It’s amazing I’ve gone this long without denting a differential cover. I guess my luck ran out.

After finding out just how thin the Differential cover was I decided I needed some protection. Like many other people, I’m on a budget but I also can’t weld. So to keep the project cost down I had to make sure I didn’t spend too much money on the caps because I knew I had to pay someone to weld them on. I was looking around for Differential protection when someone mentioned to me to use a 8" weld on pipe cap and cut it in half to make 2 Differential caps. I had no idea what this was but thought I’d look into it. A call to a local plumbing supply company and $18 later I was a proud owner of an 8" weld on pipe cap! Now I just had to figure out how to turn it into 2 Differential covers.

The first thing that needed to be done was to cut the cap in half. A friend's Dewalt Reciprocating Saw made the job easy. (make sure you use a good metal cutting blade) Next I held each cap up to the Differential (1 front & 1 rear) and marked where the fill plug was. I made a "V" cut in each cap so once the cap is welded on I will have access to the Differential’s fill plug. Then I cut a smaller "v" cut at the bottom of the caps so any water or mud will be able to drain out. Then I used a good metal file to round all of the cut edges. Now they were ready to weld on.

I went to a local welder and had him weld the 2 covers on for me. There’s no need to run a bead all the way around the covers. A 2" weld at the top on both sides and a 2" weld on each side of the cut for the drain should be fine. NOTE: stick welding is not recommended. Samurai differentials are not very thick and stick welding tends to be too hot. Use a Mig welder. A fresh coat of black spray paint and the project was done.