Is it the same as the differential assembly or not? The reason I ask is that my front differential housing case has a puncture in it. It's weird instead of going inwards it seems like it came from inside towards outside. Bottom line, it's leaking oil and that's not good. I was thinking of getting my teacher to hit it in with a mallet or something then weld over it? Any ideas guys/girls?

 

that puncture coming out is from the spider gear in you diff trying to "escape" after it exploded. your post is kinda out of no where. No back story or even a complete question.

 

Sorry about that, I was writing the thread right before I went to sleep. I was planning on expanding on this today at school.

Last week it snowed where I am and I slid on black ice into a ditch. I had no idea how to use my differential so I looked it up on my iPhone. I switched the differential into low and tried to get out. Switched it back to High and tried rocking myself out (reverse -> drive) that didn't work. In the end I stopped a police officer and he helped me stop a guy with a chain and he towed me out. No damage what so ever. But kinda of disappointed that I did not know how to properly use my diff I looked it up and found out. I went to a field and tested it out because it has hills, gravel, mud, and whatever else. Drove around in High, when something looked a little challenging I switched to low and made sure never to exceed 10mph. The next day I went out to lunch after church. I noticed a puddle of oil under Claire and I thought my drain plug was loose. I looked under and I saw the front differential bulb-like-thing that you can use to jack up your rover (I think it is called a diff housing case hence the thread name) was leaking. I wiped out the drip area and saw the outward puncture. Now what I am trying to figure out is if I can replace the housing, weld it shut, or do I replace the diff and the diff housing case? I looked up parts and roversnorth shows the differential assembly which i don't think it's part of the housing. So I'm looking for options on what to do. I'll post pictures as soon as I can to show you the puncture. It's not a gaping hole or anything but enough for the oil to slowly drip out.

 

Time to find a complete front assembly, or rebuild what you have and have your hole welded closed top stop the leak.

 

I would pull the diff cover and see what the inside looks like, but if you're still driving it, the differential inside must still be intact or you would go no-where. Maybe there's a foriegn object in there that got poked through the housing.

 

Well let's say I wanted to take off the diff cover first and take a look (RAVE it I assume) what would I be looking for? Foreign as in like a rock in there or something along those lines?

@DiscoMike
I was afraid of that

Edit:
So you are saying more than likely the diff is fine because I can still drive. Meaning that I can check the diff and see if anything is in there that is not supposed to be, take it out, put the cover back on, and weld the puncture hole shut. I'm not saying that is all I have to do but that's the idea right?

 

Since when do these trucks have removable covers??? I would pull the whole 3rd member out and see what poked a hole in your case. Its probably a broken chunk of the spider gear flying around in there and if you dont get it out and fixed itll end up in the ring an pinion chewing the gears all up. You mite get lucky and find the piece if you drain the oil out.

 

Keep in mind that the diff cover is shaped, and what looks like it's punched from the inside out is in reality just a leak right at one of the shaped sections.
My bet is that you hit a rock when you went in the ditch.
But it's still a good idea to pull the front diff assembly to inspect it. You'll want to do that anyway to weld the hole closed as you need to get every last vestige of oil out of the metal before welding it closed.
Alternatively, you can buy replacement pans for them and cut off the old one and weld on the new one. But if it's just a small hole welding it closed will be just as good.

Do not use chlorinated brake cleaner to clean the metal
When heated it produces fumes that are are almost instantly and permanently toxic to your nervous system.

 

read the owners manual on how to use the cdl properly, its in the rave too if you dont have the original.

 

Excuse me, since I have seen replacements, I figured they were removable. But I stand corrected.

http://www.roverparts.com/Parts/DA1044.cfm