Homebrew diff protection

Well, I finally finished half of one of my projects. Here is a pic of my new diff protection. This one is for the front 44, hence the portion on the top inside edge ground out to clear my RE bracket. The rear will get the same treatment. Made from one of the rings provided by a fella on pirate, and a bunch of 1/4" stuff. Should be much more beefy than my warn guard I have on there now.
This one was a learning experience for many reasons. I mounted it all WAY too close to teh diff, so when it moved around during welding- I ended up having to grind a lot out of the inside edges to get it to fit! Should be good now though- heres hopin at least! Anyways, the rear one should be easier!


Many other projects to follow....
j

beefy

Really nice fabing but for as much as you did shaping why didnt you just finish it and make it a full cover/protection

I didnt wanna have to figure out how to close in the bolt holes. So, just kinda lazy I suppose.....
j

Somthing to play with in the future..

Well, I figured I sohuld try and make rear one a complete one, but didnt want to do it like everyone else, so here is how it turned out. For the fill hole, I found a 1/2" coupling, cut it in half, and welded it in. Worked out great, except I munched the threads on the plug while it was still hot so I gotta go get another one. Stupid.
Anyways, here are pics. Should be painted soon. But I think my welds are getting better...... I am still getting fair amount of spatter. Is that to be expected? I keep messing with the line speed, and it gets better the more I slow it down, but if I slow it down any more, it starts to miss. So, any suggestions?
Also, my one problem is that it warped a bit. If you push down on one side, you lift the other up about 1/4". So, how do I remedy this? Should I just try and ground down the spots that it is resting on? Any other ideas to get it to sit flat? I still need to weld the inside bottom edge, any tricks to do it when I do that? I am assuming just slapping a lot more gasket maker on it wont seal it up adequately....any ideas are welcome.