i bought the Trail Gear small differential armor and decided to make it work with my 4runner.

so basically i cut off the e brake hanger bracket, welded the armor on ( its not perfect, as you can see some gaps on the side, but it will work perfectly and its a place for any water that gets behind the plate to drain out)

then i welded the e brake hanger back on the armor in the same place ad it was

check the pictures....

 

Very resourceful.

 

sweet! someone's gotta make armor for the front of the rear diff to protect those studs and the bottom of the diff though...that'd be nice to have...

 

I bought the same one from trail gear for my front diff. when i read the instructions (just for the hell of it) they said that it was supposed to be like that and that you weld the top first, then weld halfway down and then use a big hammer and whack the bottom to get a nice close fit to the diff. thats what i did and it worked great.

 

x2, i've already broken a stud off and just about shaved off my drain plug...i could care less about the back atm.

 

I have hit my drain plug, luckily it did not get stuck. The ring around my drain bolt is worn down. I put one on the low profile drain plugs in and now the worn down ring is plenty. I take it you have not hit the part of the diff where i put that armor on. Last month i put a dent in it right where the armor is now.

In my eyes a sheared off bolt can easily be replaced, but a dented in diff can hit your ring gear. That can ruin your housing, and the ring gear. Now thats a BFD.