Hi guys,
I still haven't built my DF-03 yet. I got some extra driveshaft pin protectors with my TA-05 aluminium upgrade diff halves, so naturally, I test-fitted them on all the dogbones and CVD's I can get my hands on. The first ones I tried were the DF-03 dogbones but I found the pins too long and I couldn't get the protectors on. Bummer! Today, I finally found my old DF-03 CVDs and to my eye, the pins looked really short. I test-fitted them with the protectors and of course, they are the same as the touring car ones and the protectors fit them! I am going to buy myself a set of these pin protectors (Tamiya Swing Shaft Protectors - item 53890) to put on all the universals. They won't fit without modification so the next phase is going to be to widen the slots in the diff cups. I have a set of 3Racing diff cups as a spare in case I mess up.

In this pic, the original DF-03 dogbones are on the left. The DF-02 CVD/universals are on the right. The pins are smaller on the DF-02 CVDs, so this might mean they might fall out at large angles (at full droop).
Also, to my eye, it looks like the balls on the stock DF-03 dogbones are smaller, which might explain why they have a tendency to wear out the diff cups (all that rattling in there). With this in mine, the DF-02 CVDs with the bigger balls may or may not have the same problem as the stock bones, but I intend to try the plastic protector mod anyway.
Hmm, it just occured to me that this would increase the total length of the shaft and it might bind against the diff at full compression. Do you guys think there would be enough space for the protector (about 2mm extra, I think).