Dana 44's with 456 gears do run hot!

[OldVetteGuy]

Does our Jeep use a 10 bolt? Or a 12 bolt?

Our Wrangler 392's use the 12 bolt Dana 44 M220 free float Avantek differentials.

They are great differentials but are no match for the larger and much stronger Dana 60 or the AAM SF14 differentials

 

[OldVetteGuy]

Have you tried doing a run where your Tazer is not forcing RWD?

As I mentioned earlier in the thread I do plan on doing in 4WD with the FAD in the locked position, I expect the temps to be close to the rear but might be a slight bit cooler consider the front axle is in the direct stream of front end air movement.

Unfortunately the rear diff sits where the rear cover nearly sits in an area with little or no air flow and hot exhaust and muffler near by which does not help heat dissipation.

 

[3TV]

From what I’ve read, increasing height of fluid can result in more aeration of oil and is not ideal. Increasing oil volume by making the cover more spherical is the right way to add volume. That’s just what I’ve read.

In general that is true Keith, but these diff covers are made by Dana, the same company that makes the axle. So, it doesn't look like Dana is concerned about too much oil in the differential. Anyway, the amount of additional fluid is minimal from what I can tell, and the diff covers do appear to have a larger spherical curve than stock. It is hard to tell the exact amount of increased curve compared to stock though because these diff covers have the cooling fins on them and the thickness of the nodular iron is three times the thickness of the stock stamped steel diff covers. These diff covers are beefy. Diff cover clearance with some of the larger aluminum tie rods and some of the available diff skids could be a concern with these diff covers. My Metalcloak tie rod clears the diff cover though.

In regard to heat from these diff covers, I'm not worried.

 

[OldVetteGuy]

In general that is true Keith, but these diff covers are made by Dana, the same company that makes the axle. So, it doesn't look like Dana is concerned about too much oil in the differential. Anyway, the amount of additional fluid is minimal from what I can tell, and the diff covers do appear to have a larger spherical curve than stock. It is hard to tell the exact amount of increased curve compared to stock though because these diff covers have the cooling fins on them and the thickness of the nodular iron is three times the thickness of the stock stamped steel diff covers. These diff covers are beefy. Diff cover clearance with some of the larger aluminum tie rods could be a concern with these diff covers, but my Metalcloak tie rod clears the diff cover just fine. In regard to heat from these diff covers, I'm not worried.

Here is a shot of the back of the Dana Spice Nodular Iron cover. There are no fluid directing channels so I imagine it's just a heavy duty armored version of the stamped steel cover that comes standard on our D44 diffs.

With the added bungs maintenance and changing fluid will be easier. Plus the added protection goes without saying. I wish someone on the forum could post up some road temps to see if they actually aid in reducing temps.

 

[Ranger-Buddy]

In general that is true Keith, but these diff covers are made by Dana, the same company that makes the axle. So, it doesn't look like Dana is concerned about too much oil in the differential. Anyway, the amount of additional fluid is minimal from what I can tell, and the diff covers do appear to have a larger spherical curve than stock. It is hard to tell the exact amount of increased curve compared to stock though because these diff covers have the cooling fins on them and the thickness of the nodular iron is three times the thickness of the stock stamped steel diff covers. These diff covers are beefy. Diff cover clearance with some of the larger aluminum tie rods and some of the available diff skids could be a concern with these diff covers. My Metalcloak tie rod clears the diff cover though.

In regard to heat from these diff covers, I'm not worried.

The higher fill plug on the Spicer covers is for high pinion angles. If you use it to fill a stock set up, you'll overfill the differential. It's clearly stated in the instructions.