Reply to "Small crack in lower case - Is this a common problem?"

As far as merely safety wiring the ring gear bolts, you can do it yourself. All the vendors sell kits with high quality bolts, safety wire and pliers. I'll be doing mine sometime in July. So yank your ZF, take it to a shop to weld up that crack, then bring it on down to San Jose and you can safety wire yours at the same time. I have the pliers and wire already - just need new bolts.