Differential covers 101
PU Truck mag That answered a lot of my questions about these covers. Extra large ones may not make a lot of sense because they disturb the oil flow in the housing.
Forum Discussion
ib516 wrote:Groover wrote:
I find it interesting that the entire discussion so far is concerned with keeping the differential cool but Ram recently added a differential warmer on some trucks. Overheating is bad but so is overcooling. Finding the sweet spot for your application is the trick.
I think they added the rear diff heater for mpg reasons for times when the very viscous gear oil is cold - not sure where you're from but where I'm from, 80w90 gear oil is like a bar of soap at -40 and will rob mpg until it reaches operating temp. When we see the data from Banks on the running temps of gear oil, I suspect it will be higher than running temp of the coolant, or maybe RAM has a way of turning the coolant flow to the rear diff on and off depending on temperature.
It is also important to cook off any moisture that tries to accumulate in the rear axle. For that you need to get the whole thing above boiling on an occasional basis.
