Shaving 8.25 ?

[COXJ]

can i just simply cut off that lip that hangs down and wacks every rock and stops all folward movement or do i have to plate it after i shave it? thanks

WIll

[RCP Phx]

You could remove some of it,but the bottom center bolt is right there.Why not make a full diff skid.Thats alot easier and protects everything!

[COXJ]

its what iron? or sumthin like that so its strong as heck so i dont mind dragin it just dont like gettin hung up and i can redo that one bolt i believe

WIll

[Lucas]

Bolt? Dunno, I just took a 4" grinder and now it looks like a dana 35, but it doesn't get hung up anymore. Took all of 5 mins.

[Carpenter]

You could remove the entire lip but you would have to figure out a way to seal up the cover, probably even build a new cover. Some reinforcement of the chunk might be needed too. What I did is what lucas describes above. I just took an angle grinder to the housing and cover. If you remove the cover there is a line cast into the housing that makes a perfect template to go by. You end up taking more material from the corners than from the bottom but the little material that is removed makes a real difference. I noticed the chunk gets hung up far less often now.

[azxjman]

Why not just get bigger tires :D

[ILLXJ]

Lucas, Carpenter. Could either of you post a pic. I would like to see how much you took off the lip. Thanks.

[EricsXJ]

I have plans to shave mine too.

I have already trimmed the oval diff cover where it sticks out past the diff housing. I also have a diff guard on there so I won't be able to shave too much of it since I don't want the diff guard to get caught on rocks either. Maybe I could slightly trim the diff guard to match. (I'll have to think about that one some more...) But either way I can take off a fair amount on the corners.

Can't really see anything in this pic but what the heck...

http://www.ericsxj.com/gallery01/straw30.jpg

[azxjman]

that pic looks like the rock took out your driveshaft

[cauac]

welll thats some super rear bumper ,,,,,i just drool over it .......so american expedition is selling them now ,,,,did you have to wait a lot for it to have it?
sorry to get out of topic here....

[Carpenter]

Not the best pictures but here's mine. Not alot of material removed but what I did grind off made a noticable difference.

http://www.fototime.com/636F0FFF6859A70/standard.jpg

http://www.fototime.com/0E6D6EC1CDC1C00/standard.jpg

[Lucas]

I left my diff cover on and used it as a template. Basically I just ground everything down to the profile of the cover. No more, no less.

[EricsXJ]

Originally posted by azxjman
that pic looks like the rock took out your driveshaft
Thats what had me concerned at the time, but it didn't break... It took a little rash around the u-joint straps but it mostly scraped up the bottom of the diff housing. Also I'm glad the 8.25 has a very beefy pinion.

Originally posted by cauac
welll thats some super rear bumper ,,,,,i just drool over it .......so american expedition is selling them now ,,,,did you have to wait a lot for it to have it?
sorry to get out of topic here....
I don't know if AEV has produced any more or not. I was one of the first to get them and I've had it for a year and a half. (waited 11 months to get it)

[brcomputer]

I was thinking about shaving mine .... but doesn't this weaken the housing? I mean if it doesn't then why would they have that there to begin with?

For those that have shaved it, did you truss it or is the heavy diff guard/cover supposed to be doing that?

[Lucas]

If you look on the frontside of the diff, below the pinion, you will see that its is still heavily trussed. Ive come down hard on the diff and scraped it all over the place with no ill effects except a messed up diff cover.

[cherokeekid]

I shaved mine also, makes a huge difference, you slide over rocks instead of stopping when the lip grabs one.

Make sure you pull the cover off after grinind it down and shave the cover just a bit more, i was still catching a bit of the lower cover and peeling it back.

[xjaddiction]

I thought about shaving mine, but changed my mind. I decided that it was better to rub the bottom of the dif. than risk catching the dif. cover. I guess if you shave it, you should put dif. protection on there.

if you really feel like trimming something, move the shock mounts up and shave the old shock mounts off. Those things love to grab stuff.

My two cents worth,

Greddy

[bburge]

Originally posted by EricsXJ

I don't know if AEV has produced any more or not. I was one of the first to get them and I've had it for a year and a half. (waited 11 months to get it)

I called them and they told me they were handing off their production to ARB and they were having a few problems. They said they would have them figured out any day now (then). I asked on expected delivery date if I paid them right then on the spot. They wouldn't even hazard a GUESS! Cool bumper. Bad business...

bburge
C4x4 rear bumper w/tire carrier

[Lucas]

I started peeling my cover's lif too. The 8.25 cover has that little reincorcing "ridge" all around it that gets caought up pretty easily. The D30 lid is flush along the countours of the diff. Last time I went out both pumpkins got a good thrashing. The 30 diff cover was scraped up, the 8.25 cover got its edges peeled up and started weeping gear oil.
Grind down that reinforcing lip or, as everyone said, find a reincorcing cover gaurd.

[Carpenter]

Grind the cover also, make sure to grind the cover a little more than the chunk so it won't get peeled back. The "reinforcing lip" is completely gone from the bottom of my housing.