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Tonight was cleaning the rear differential and noticed several indentations where holes are developing. Opinions?

Hi Aaron,
I asked about the same thing a few days ago.

I was told they are welds where they attached the axle tubes.

Brian

I think they're like a rosette type of weld. They drill a hole put the material they want to attach then fill the hole with a welder. makes for a clean job. Other wise you would have a weld bead around the contact point where the shaft and diff meet. just my opinion.

4x4M38 wrote: I asked about the same thing a few days ago.

I was told they are welds where they attached the axle tubes.

I somehow missed your post on this. So do I need to weld these shut again or plug them somehow?

Yep, plug weld or rosettes.

No, I think they look normal. They look like mine do.

Every jeep diff I have worked on looks like that. The weld inside will be very clean once you clean the slag and rust out. Clean very well before you prime and paint, it will be fine.

The location of the weld is normal from production. The weld quality varied back then and that particular weld on your jeep is porous. My M38 also has a less than perfect weld. You won't have a problem with that axle housing. After many years my weld shows signs of weeping a little rust out of the porous weld. If you want to be meticulous spend time brush priming.

Many chassis welds were similar in quality.

Another question on the rear differential back plate. The bottom hole has damaged threads and I can't get the bolt to tighten. I have never tried to Heli-Coil anything, but am pretty handy... so am I better off learning on this or just taking the rear axle into the local machine shop and have them do it?

I think it is something you could do. Problem is the cost. When you buy a a Heli Coil kit, you get just one size and pretty pricey, $40-50 in my area. It probably wouldn't cost that much more to have a shop do it, then you would also know it's right.

Dan

Those were my thoughts as well!

Be sure to turn the cover vent so that it is vertical. Yours is horizontal now. Agreed - you can do the helicoil yourself.

You may also want to insure this MWO is complied with on your axle:

Already checked and mine has the baffle installed.

I'm going to live large and see how long I can get away with it!