Shop said my rear diff is leaking.  Is it as simple as just taking that plate off and replacing the gasket?  It seems like that metal brace is in the way.  is it easy to remove?

Edited March 19, 20242 yr by evor1

Pretty rare to have the rear cover leak like that, but there is a gasket there.

Looks more like the pinion seal or one or both of the side axle seals are leaking, and have been for quite some time, and it's dripping down and blowing back to that lowest part.

 

Unload a can or 2 of degreaser and/or brake clean at that thing and get it cleaned up, top it off, and then drive again and see where the leak comes from.

Plus one for it leaking somewhere else.  You can see oil nr differential all the way to the driveshaft indicating that it's definitely leaking there.

Yeah, the cover gasket almost never leaks.  At least top up the fluid and see how much was missing.

What ^ they said above. I think if you open the top (fill) plug, you should be able to stick a finger in and feel the fluid level.

BTW if you go off on a tangent and ever venture into the (why not)  diff fluid drain/replace, make sure you can free the fill port BEFORE you drain from the bottom plug.
From the hard knock school of "The greatest enemy of good enough is better".

Front pinion seal. Or just swap in a used rear diff. They almost never fail and have zero demand. On parts cars I never sold one and routinely scrapped them. 

Absolutely top off the lube in the differential! I'm pretty sure the reason one of my '96s is now two wheel drive is that I neglected the leak in its rear differential, and it eventually ran dry and the gear box self-destructed. It's easy to top off if you can jack up the rear end a little, and replacing the differential is way harder.