Aftermarket tranny and diff covers

When I had my transmission rebuilt earlier this year I was going to put on an aftermarket trans pan, the builder did not recommend it, the heat transfer is very minimal, the pans tend to leak easier, and the cost is better applied to a big transmission cooler.

the rear diff was almost the same story, but he said they didn't leak any more then a stock one would, that his temps did drop a few degrees, but the biggest reason was ease of maintaining the rear diff fluid, as well as it holding a bit more then stock.

as far as the front goes, unless your running in 4x4 quite often, I wouldn't worry about it as much, its not under near the stress of the rear, as the gears aren't constantly being put under stress from moving the load.

Some time ago I read a magazine test that mentioned the mag hytec diff cover was good for 25-50deg temp reduction. Don't know about the tranny cover.

Instead of getting a 2015 F-450, why not look at some F-350's with a much higher GVWR? The 2011's with the 6.7L Diesel to be most specific. They are still going to be a bit above $30,000 but much more reasonable than the F-450, and carry almost the same GVWR, and perhaps the same cargo rating. .

The transmission covers only have a few square inches of aluminum heat exchanger, not much more than the steel factory one, but are cast a little thicker, so they barely transfer more heat. I guess there are some with tubes cast into the pan base, so there is 3/8" tubing with air blowing through the pan, at 60 MPH that is about 100 feet per minute.

A aftermarket transmission cooler will work much better.

AS for aftermarket rear diff cover, it will normally have a magnetic drain plug, that will both collect any metal shavings, and make it 'clean' to drain out the fluid for changes. And it will be aluminum too, so it might get rid of more heat. Still there is over 8 square feet of tubing in the rear axle, 1/2 full of rear diff oil, and it will help cool the oil too!

Fred.