I am about to send my diff for sandblasting and then powdercoat it. OK, OK, i will drain the oil from it. But is there any danger regards to tight tolerances of gears and bearings that should make me to avoid putting it to the oven and baking it to 400 degrees F?

I wouldn't do it, the grit gets everywhere, and could get past the oil seals... The powder coater would have to mask off the seals too, can't see 400 degs doing them much good either....

i would say so, yes. things expand when heated, i think it could do damage to the bearings. assuming things will contract when they cool down it could be fine, but i really wouldn't do it

The oil seals wont like it.

Get it sprayed, it will look just as good but with out the risk of damage.

Thanks guys, i just wanted your opinions. Thanks a lot!

i just sprayed mine with zinc primer aerosol, then flourescent orange looks good i think. need to sand it back off though forgot i've still got brackets to weld on. but with a respray, and some clear laquer it'll look spot on agian

Could you post a pic of your painted diff?
I would not recommend welding anything on the diff's case. You just don't know the alloy of the case and you will not be sure you have a strong weld.

ah, well, mines a live axle, so i'm allowed to

Oh, LIVE AXLE, God Bless America....

ha ha yeah, and scotland

Serious, your axle is looking just awesome. What paint have you used?

just an aerosol out of halfords. plasti-kote i think it was. i wanted to use it as a practise for using my compressor, but no one could mix me flourescent paint

i powder coated mine first of all but because the ali is cast it ended up looking all pitted so i wet sprayed after chemical strip and re glass blasting
Rescued attachment DSCN1675.JPG

Nice job!

thanx
Rescued attachment DSCN1680.JPG

was thinking of doing something aesthetic to my diff too... just wondering, how difficult is to dismantle the diff and then put it back together after something like IDONTBELIEVEIT has done?