The best diff brace money can buy.

I’ve been testing this along with several others and it’s up for pre-order at ID Speed now. Nothing else on the market is even close in quality or function. This was designed to closely mimic the oem 4 bolt subframe…not just bolt on and be there with your fingers crossed. It costs more but the differences when compared to the other options are pretty obvious. ID has pre-order pricing with the code No Fear.

https://idspeedshop.com/id-speed-2020-explorer-st-rear-diff-brace/

The pics are of pre-production parts that were raw, not anodized. Note they supply longer bolts for full thread engagement instead is reusing the stock bolts which IMHO are too short after adding the brace with spacers built in. This thing is as solid as it gets. And if you race a lot and want some extra peace of mind with a 4 bolt sub-frame it fits those as well giving you 5 mounting points.

This brace looks amazing! Awesome job by the fabricators!

I just installed the AWR last week and have a new Diffy Stiffy in a box, why did this not come out 2 months ago?!?!?


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I'm definitely ordering this to replac my Diffy Stiffy.

My only issue is, I can't (at the moment) remove the Diffy Stiffy one of the bolts / nuts just spins when I try to lossen it. And there is no room to get anything in there to grab the nut.


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Do you have a picture of the problem? Some one here might have a suggestion or idea to help.

Time to grind the bolt head off.

I will when I return from my trip.


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I think post #5 from UNBROKEN is the best answer for you you.

Yep...that's what I'll probably end up doing.


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This definitely looks better than the diffy but isn't the diffy still good enough to hold?

Diffy Stiffy is good enough, yes. But this trips the ol' trigger and I want to try a different option. Also... Pics





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The nuts were siezed. [mention]UNBROKEN [/mention] was correct. Cutting them was the option.


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No, the Diffy Stiffy brace isn't "enough". It is not well designed and I've pointed it out in other posts. The AWR brace in my opinion is probably overall the best although as I've also posted I'd like to see another bolt higher up on the RH diff side to make sure it's anchored securely to the differential.

The ID speed part is nicely fabricated and uses the same mounting points as the AWR brace on the diff and also includes longer diff mounting hardware. The only question on this one is the length of the bolt through the bushing/isolator and how much deflection that bushing will have, since the amount of flex is dependent on the distance of the bushing from the differential and the durometer of that bushing.

The AWR part uses 2 bolts in the diff, this one uses 4 to spread the load put more. While I don’t know the durometer of the bushing I know the engineers that designed it ran multiple calculations to come up with what they did. I doubt they’re gonna just give that info away. AWR just uses a normal poly bushing compared to this one that uses EPDM.
And after the owner of AWR ran her mouth all over FB that this was a copy of their brace…I have no use for her.

Certainly it's not a copy of the AWR brace. You're also right that it only has two bolts in the diff housing- had to recheck original thread on that. Any decent engineer would be hard-pressed to say that AWR or ID speed aren't capable. I'd have to say the calculation of the various loads, is not only non-trivial, it's likely impossible to any real significance. If I were designing an aftermarket item like this I'd make it as bulletproof as possible. To be honest, that would be the Ford 4-bolt mount!

That being said, on the ID speed brace, as the differential begins to rotate, the first movement would be to try and "pull" the bushing toward the differential. My first thought is the isolator is in the wrong plane for its placement at the bottom of the differential.

The stock Ford setup uses a bushing in the same plane as the ID speed piece, BUT is placed in the center of the diff with the bushing mounted directly on the differential (shortest length equals less leverage on the mount) where the movement would try to compress the bushing. That's why I would say that the AWR brace at a 90 degree plane mounted in roughly the same position relative to the differential might be a bit better design as it relates to placement. However it is limited by its use of 2 bolts on the differential housing- I would expect that to be a potential failure point.

I'm not pissing on either of these, just pointing out the relative strengths/weaknesses of the approaches. Frankly, neither of these would meet my criteria of "bulletproof". But that doesn't mean they won't work.

Any other options out besides the 3?

Those are the only ones I've seen.

I apologize for the newbie question, this is my first performance SUV. I had an Xterra as my winter vehicle/overlander I built up not too long ago, but let's just say it never had enough power for me to worry about things like this!

From what I've read on the ID Speed site, this brace is useful for hard launching/towing where the moment force from the engine kind of "torques up" the drivetrain which causes flex, and this is supposed to stiffen the diff so that torque goes into rotating the gears and not flexing the housing, correct? At what point would someone say "It isn't a sexy mod, but it's necessary now"?

Based off what I have seen, this does look like a nicely-engineered product and much more stout than others. Albeit more expensive than others, I don't mind paying for quality. Buy once, cry once as they say...

Again, sorry for some newbie questions, still learning. Building my list of mods I'd like to do in the order I want to do them. Not all go-fast mods, keeping the truck in good shape is also a priority!

-Brian

Ditto

I mean honestly if you aren’t driving hard or towing heavy all the time…I would spend that money elsewhere. It’s not like the diffs fall out of these things every time you step on the gas…it’s just an insurance policy against Fords stupidity.

Or... don't launch your car lol.
All the AWD vehicles i have owned i never launched any of them on pavement. Bad things just happen if you don't have the HP/TQ.