Paddock Diff Guards - hammer required?

Hi,

I had the pleasure of doing Cam High Road at the weekend and then heading north and going the back way to Hawes. If you've done that way you'll know there's a dirty great stone step (as featured in LRM a couple of issues back) that isn't the easiest of downhills to negotiate. Just after this is about a mile or so of really rough ground and I was listening to rocks pinging off my diffs and watching the 90 in front of me getting a rough time on the diffs.

So I bought a pair of diff guards from Paddocks - for traditional 90 axles. They look pretty tidy - however how would you go about getting them on? They seem very very tight (very) - even when the two allen key bolts are totally undone. In fact it seems like the only way to get them on is to use a hammer/mallet.

Here they are: LAND ROVER 90 DEFENDER FRONT AND REAR DIFF GUARDS | eBay

Has anyone fitted some themselves? Am I right in thinking they need a proper bang to get them on?

I suppose it is conceivable that I have the wrong size but they do seem like they are pretty much spot on - just that they don't slip over in the gratifying way I thought they would (prior to tightening). Cheers.

Nope mine was the same, needed a bit of persuasion to go on.
I gave my diff a quick rub down and a bit of copper slip, and a rubber mallet to pursuade on after pulling it open a little by hand too.

Cheers - that's something of a relief. I notice that they only cover the back of the diff and the actual bit that would be in contact with the ground is left in the original state. Presumably Land Rover knew what they were doing when they designed them though.

My Profile Picture is the step in question by the way. Notice the diff splintering rocks just waiting to rip me bottom to shreds.

*no, not that bottom.

North yorks?, think that same step is responsible for the dent in my drivers wing and bent bumper, was more washed out then and had to go up on the right.

DaninLids said:

Cheers - that's something of a relief. I notice that they only cover the back of the diff and the actual bit that would be in contact with the ground is left in the original state. Presumably Land Rover knew what they were doing when they designed them though.

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they cover the vulnerable bit, the diff pan, which is thin, dentable and the bit that will mash against the diff if its dented, the rest of the casing and axle is pretty thick and tough unless your into heavy offroad in which case you might want wraparounds on pans.
If your just laning, bit of P&P those will do just fine.

Yes - North Yorks. Just north from Kidhow Gate and part of the Pennine Way. All 100% legal of course. It is one of those steps that forces you to reverse part way down to get a decent angle (it's sort of on a dog leg).

I watched with horror as the 90 a couple of cars in front of me broke his nice shiny rear rods on it.

Rubber Hammer it is.