My rear end is leaking from the cover so i am all set to replace it tomorrow I was going to do a how to kind of post but also figured what to look for while its open its an open carer so i doubt there will be much to look for other then metal flakes will post pictures tomorrow

 

I just replaced the gaskets on both of my f-150. Personally, I WILL NOT go with just silicon. I bought 2 gaskets at autozone for $10 and a tube of black silicon. I cleaned the cover reall good, smeared a little silicon on both sides of the gasket, put it on the cover and let it sit for about 20 minutes. While it was curing, I cleaned the housing real well after reaching inside the housing and scooping out any left over fluid and debris. I actually found zero debris, so I was good to go. I hung the cover on and started a couple of the bolts and put them in finger tight and made sure my gasket was aligned. I then finished installing the bolts and tightened them down going opposite bolt to opposite bolt. No leaks on either truck after two weeks now. I also cleaned the covers and painted them and cleaned the outside of the housing so I could spot leaks easier. All I did was jack the back of the truck up, block the front wheels and put them in neutral and spin the rear wheels by hand while watching for and bad spots in the gears. Two people can do this allot faster. One watching the gears and one slowly turning the wheels.

Hope this helps. Every diff I've seen with silicon only and no gasket has signs of leakage around the bottom of the cover. Both of my trucks and a couple others I've worked on leaked. Not enough to worry about hurting anything, but they leaked none the less.

I just reread your post.......sorry to give my tutorial, just got a 72 hour shift and my eyes aren't functioning quite well enough yet. Lol Today would not be the day for me to be working on either of my trucks!

 

I should have said i will be using Indian head gasket shlack not rtv most people tend to forget the gasket is the gasket and needs to be tight to the metal rtv is just to help hold it in place so you don't pinch it

 

I'm an RTV only kinda guy. I use the red stuff and let it sit for 20 minutes prior to reinstalling the cover. One thing I do differently is I buy new (grade 8) housing bolts. I had a bad experience once with a bolt breaking off in the housing while tightening it down.

 

I will be picking up new bolts for sure they are 18 years old so i think its time for new ones lol i would be posting pictures but its called on account of rain do you know the thread rating? is that the grade? the guy behind the counter confused the crap out of me. i was going to remove one and match them up so.

 

Dorman Part No: 960-107. These are grade 8 bolts. Make sure there's 4 per package. Sometimes it will be 3 in a package.

As far as thread rating, not sure, but I go with the thought that Grade 8 bolts have superior strength and I haven't had one to snap on me yet.

 

thanks! part number works just as well!