Transmission Fill Plug Removal - A Solution

[Mike W]

So I was nearing the end of the re-assembly on my complete rear end rebuild and one of the last tasks that I had to complete was to drain and re-fill my transmission. I had lost some fluid when I removed the drive shaft for refreshing so I wanted to just drain the old oil( not even sure the last time it had been done over the last 30 years) and replace it it new.

Well as many owners have experienced, getting the fill plug out can be quite a chore. I tried just about everything I could find on the forum (barring removal of the transmission) but to no avail. Big and small pipe wrenches wouldn't budge it and it was really hard trying to get the wrench head on the plug in order to get a good grip. I also tried standard 17 mm open end wrenches, channel locks, crow foot 17 mm, and even tried using a jack to put pressure on a crowfoot attached to a 24 inch breaker bar. Nothing.

So at one point my son, who was under the car trying the different tactics, asked for the standard 17mm open end wrench again. When he put the wrench on the plug, it happened to be straight down and it gave me an idea.

I ended up using a chain puller (ie come along). I put one end on the end of the 17 mm open end wrench that was on the plug. I attached the other end to the front frame member and then I cranked.

After I got all of the slack out, I just started to slowly crank harder. Just about as I was about to give up for fear of breaking something, ( and after about 2-3 hard cranks), it broke loose.

This turned out to be a pretty easy and straightforward way to solve this problem. Unlke the pipe wrench approach, the 17 mm open end is easy to get on the plug and easy to see if you are not on correctly. The chain puller provides an easy way to get some leverage on that bolt without being in contorted positions.

In any case, it worked for me and was pretty siimple in the end so I thought that I would pass this along for those who might have to tackle this in the future.

Mike.

[Zed Head]

A torch used to heat up the area around the fill plug makes a huge difference also. Might have saved you a crank...

[240260280z]

Great use of force

You can also use mass and lift and lower the car onto a breaker bar that has an end on the ground.

For the archives I read of a fellow who used a scissor jack to bush out on the rear stub axles,