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QT diff guards


white90

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After the event at West Harptree

the front diff guard is not bent where a rangie steering damper would connect

the rear one is being shaped into the diff casing

they appear to be a little chocolaty in their construction IMHO

having had

x2 fronts and x2 rears already.

yes I know they save the diff but the southdown steering guard and tank guard are unmarked after years of use.

are the copies of the QT ones better material?

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TC

Know exactly what you mean, in the end I "Plated" mine with lumps of steel so that the diff pan became next ito indestructable. If you don't fancy this then heres an idea....

Why not maybe speak to Dave at Southdown about having another option in the marketplace -

ie a decent (and I agree with you his stuff is fine) diff guard, maybe shaped and then welded on or at least one that is better than the QT stuff.He might just see the sales opportunity ?

No doubt many will say there QT is superb and strong, but I have persdobally seen a number of these cause probs..

Just a thought

Nigw

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I have yet to "Test" my rear one so it is still fine, but the moment I got it I thought it was a bit of a rubbish idea - the QT lettering cut in to the guard looks very bling, but removes a lot of the strength from precisely where it is needed! I did think about cutting a plate to weld over the QT letters but inertia got in the way and I decided it could wait till I bent it.

The wraparound design is good in some ways but poor in others because if you look at the design its a few long narrow bits of metal going right around the outside with basically no support so it is obvious that if you whack it on something in the middle of one of the long thin strips it is gonna bend pretty easily. I have a dome clamp-on guard on my front diff that I think came from W&H Wheelcarriers years ago, have had the same one on all 3 of my 90s I think and "christened" it repeatedly and it is still absolutely fine and has done its job, I'm quite sure the QT wouldn't have survived what this one has. The only drawback is that it isn't a rockslider but my diff guard use tends to involve driving into a rock head on with a big clang and some swearing, rather than sliding over them :)

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I Have the "cheaper" QT copies on the disco runnning 235/70 wheels which means I have tested it many times! There is some bending round the edges but nothing serious, BUT I am very aware that it has effectively lowered my under-diff clearance by as much as an inch. Not in real measurable terms (that is more like a cm) but the flat surface tends to rub on high spots and create far more drag than the point at the base of a round diff. Of course with big Simex's you won't notice this effect quite the same (but on the limit may be just as bad). For this reason alone I would tend to fit a halfmoon guard to the front and make a bespoke one for the rear to protect the diff nose, together with another halfmoon one to protect the rear pan.

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Take a grinder to the damper mount on the front one, cutting it of at 45° to still leave a web, I have thought about doing that to mine anyway.

Rear one is still useable and still doing it's job IMHO.

Unless they are made of much thicker steel any of the wrap around guards will suffer in the same way.

I think the bigest failing of the QT guards like that is the lack of protection for the whole diff pan, as I found out. The new style QT ones are better, but the North Off Road new style ones are the best design IMHO, although you do loose slightly more ground clearance.

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No sorry don't have any. None on their site that I can see. They have had them at all the shows this year so someone might have soem pics.

Basically a pan type diff guard with the wrap around bit of the QT style guard welded on.

Whether they would be any different, ie stronger, in respect of the damage in your pics I don't know. The designs is basically the same in those areas but maybe the steel is thicker or stronger. Give Shaun a ring.

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Tony, I'm still trying to find a good source of pipe end caps which are suitable for use as diff pans. This is probably the neatest solution as it means the whole pan is beefed up, you don't loose ground clearance and you can get the diff out without taking off the gaurd. Would you be interested in a pair once I find a good supplier?

FYI I've got one of the QT esk designed diff gaurds and trackrod gaurds on the 110. Its the same principal as the QT but the designs a bit differant. I use it because I can get them down the road and the price was right ;)

Edited to add, the photos hadn't loaded before I wrote the above. I can't see the're much you can do unless you go for thicker material or add some sort of gusset. I've never had issues dragging the diff of axle casing over rocks, though. They're both plenty strong IMHO.

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I think the problem with just fitting a pipe cap is the lack of rock slider that that you get with the QT style guards. Slider on the rear is an obvious advantage but even the front it is well worth while IMHO

At the Shires event at 7S I had the front diff resting on to of a rock, on winching forwards the guard slid over and then off the rock, no drama, but without the slider the rock would have wedged between the diff and track rod, not a nice place to be.

So if fitting a pipe cap, or other diff pan beefing I would want some sort of diff nose slider, like the QT guards offer, both front and back.

And there is also the issue of restricting the bending moment of the track rod.

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Another thing to check if your diff guards have taken a knock is the bolts. I have had some that where starting to shear. The two halfs of the bolt where offset by almost the depth of the thread. I'll try and get a decent photo of it.

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Another thing to check if your diff guards have taken a knock is the bolts. I have had some that where starting to shear. The two halfs of the bolt where offset by almost the depth of the thread. I'll try and get a decent photo of it.

Best Pic I could find without having to do a photo.

The diff pan is covered in small pieces of 8mm plate, tack welded together, then also some ears to the tube sides, and this is also beefed up with a plate underneath, with a hole for the drain.

The protection goes up to just about 3/4 height, again curve around the filler.

This axle is on the old (RIP) Hybrid, the same disc braked axle is now on the 90, that some 15+ years of abuse for no real money outlaid on the diff protector.

003Medium.jpg

The "Trick" is to not go mad with the welder, tack it all together, then take sort bursts with the welder letting it cool down before the next one, this way you aviod distrotion

I had my casing shot blasted to make life a lot easier, additionally as I had bent numerous axle tubes doing "Silly" winching I welded inside the tubes some 8mm CDS tube, welded up at each end, the diff end has plates running top to bottom inside seam welded inc a hole in the middle where the tube pops through and again is all welded up

Nige

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I think the problem with just fitting a pipe cap is the lack of rock slider that that you get with the QT style guards. Slider on the rear is an obvious advantage but even the front it is well worth while IMHO

At the Shires event at 7S I had the front diff resting on to of a rock, on winching forwards the guard slid over and then off the rock, no drama, but without the slider the rock would have wedged between the diff and track rod, not a nice place to be.

So if fitting a pipe cap, or other diff pan beefing I would want some sort of diff nose slider, like the QT guards offer, both front and back.

And there is also the issue of restricting the bending moment of the track rod.

Very true, Mark, but I've dragged the bottom of both diffs along rock and, so far, not had problems. After using tubular track rod gaurd with no issues (exept it being a PITA to remove) I've gone over to one of these:

5e5586e4c310bb450e4de157a4ff0754.jpg

Bending shouldn't be an issue!

On the back end, I may do some sore of slider but I don't know if I need it.

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Yep they seem a strong bit of kit and sort the track rod issue and to a degree are ok for sliding forwards, but you still have a lip at the bottom of the diff to get hooked up on rocks/stumps/etc when reversing. As you can probably tell i am a firm believer in having things that will slide up and over obsticles arther than get hooked up, that's one of the reasons I fitted the chassis sliders from North Off Road even at the expense of losing 10mm clearance.

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Here's a pic of mine fitted...

red113.jpg

Not looking quite as new now due to Seven Sisters rocks, but they have earnt their keep for sure.

If you are getting some ask Shaun for the new design, which may not have been made yet. I was speaking to him at Malvern giving some feedback on what I had found with them, and the new ones will have a hole to match the drainage hole in the chassis (I drilled my own) and a chamfered edge on the back to help prevent hook ups when reversing.

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The ultimate solution that I found is the reinforced axle casings from Tomcat. I severely bent both axle casings on my expedition truck and no amount of welding could seal the diff pans.

So I got Paul at Tomcat to make up two casings complete with internal and external reinforcements, the internal is CDS tubes welded inside. But, the external involves new thicker diff pans and, some serious bracing which gives you a slider to the front of the front axle and to the rear of the rear axle, however you will still need something like the D4x4 brace for the steering tube. I also got my front axle cut & shut for castor correction on a 4" lift at the same time.

The total cost was 425 for the front and 275 for the rear, including the supply of two axle casings.

A perfect result but it did cost 350 quid to ship them to me.

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this is the 2nd rear, it is folding to the shape of the diff

front is the 2nd one both seem to be bending remarkably easily

the first front one actually broke free at the top fixing requiring replacement.

the prob as I see it is the metal is too soft for the application.

yes they've protected the axle but I wouldn't expect them to be so sacrificial.

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