Working on my Tacoma changing the front differential fluid. It uses an 10mm allen head. I pulled the fill plug, no real problem. Then I went to the drain, PROBLEM!! The torque spec on that is 48 ft/lbs si I knew it would be tight. I put the allen head in and tapped it to make sure it was fully seated. Then I laid on it with a breaker bar and stripped that MFer out. Plug never budged.

I'm told the only way to get that out now is with a 1/2" easy out. No way I'm Plucking with that. I'll take it to a shop next spring and have them do it.

What does a front differential do when it is not in 4wd? The transfer case oil was fine, looked new. I hardly ever use 4WD.

I put my little finger in the fill hole, didn't feel oil so I topped it off and put the plug back in.

Might look good with stripes, but I doubt most folks will see em under there...

I'm thinking about taking one of my wife's oxygen tubes and pushing it into the fill hole and siphoning that chit out. Works in theory, probably have to let it run over night. That tube is 50 foot long and I can run it down hill for a good head.

Your dynymic head from that tube will overcome any fall you can get.

If you can warm that oil up a transfer bulb would pump it right out.

Something like this:

Makes the wheels go round & round.

EZ outs work well.

Use the EZ out

I guess you turned it the correct way???

spot weld it to the allen, then buy a new one to replace it.

That sounds like a genius solution to me.

https://www.griotsgarage.com/produc...=ourPicksAscend&refType=&from=fn

Get one of these (Harbor Freight has cheaper versions). Every garage needs one. Best use is solo brake bleeding and sucking transmission fluid out so you don't make a mess when dropping a pan.

Don't worry about the drain plug especially if the fluid looks good. Lots of differentials do not have them anyway.

Another cure for stripped allen screws:

I have broken loose many frozen allen screws, including scope mount screws. I have driven a slightly larger star bit driver into the stripped hole. Sometimes a metric into an SAE hole or vice versa. Use a high quality driver which fits on a 3/8" ratchet. Drive it into the socket with a hammer, and twist it out with your breaker bar. A liberal dose of liquid wrench repeated several times in the days preceeding will make the job easier.

This works ^^^ or a proper sized hex nut spotted on then turned off with a box end wrench if you are proud of your allen wrenches. If you have to spot weld it be sure to ground directly to the case and not the frame to avoid arcing through a bearing...

Weld a nut to it....the heat will breake the seal and it will come right out......unless the plug is aluminum....then you have a problem

Sell it. Make it the next guys problem. :-)

A small charge of C4....

I was going to say that, about the heat.

Depends. Do you have locking hubs? If so, the diff is just a weight to haul around. If the hubs are fixed, the diff gears are rolling all the time even though there's no stress on them.

I have a mityvac fluid evacuator. This is a quality tool and I have had it for at least 10 years.


https://www.google.com/search?q=mit...HZKjA7UQsxgIJw&biw=2144&bih=1030

I have this, I used it to put oil in:



I imagine with a nipple to adapt it down to 3/8's inch and some 3/8's tubing might work. I can measure how much I get out, should be most of it. It's only 1.1 quarts.

I'm a little hesitant to mess with that plug screw. I am not a mechanic so I don't have a great deal of experience. If I can't suck it out then it's to the mechanic. If I can then screw it, I'll do it that way next time. Probably cost me 6 bucks to try.

To noisy, and his neighbor's already scared to death of him.....THERMITE !

GTC

yes but not electric you need to use a oxy acetylene torch when ever your under a car or truck.

Several good ways mentioned that can work. Brief, intense heat often has a wonderful way of breaking loose stuff that won't otherwise come loose.

If that plug had been bathed in a quick burst of localized heat it would have practically FALLEN out.

No mention of whether it's an NPT style, or flanged, with a self locking crush ring,.....either way, dittos on the bolded

GTC

Leave drain plug as it is and remove the differential cover so you can clean the metal out the bottom of the differential. That 48lbs. of torque sounds way too high for a drain plug. I use Permatex on the drain plug threads and just hand tighten them.

Flange, copper crush washer.

Look VERY closely at that before calling it that, it may be a two piece assembly ( one time use only ) with an inner steel locking ring, kinda like a 'shakeproof ' style.

Very Germanic, keeps em' coming back to the dealerships.

GTC

Got a feeling you're right. So why is that?

keeps em' coming back to the dealerships

On my trucks i have had to use a chisel to get them turning, then just went and bought a new one.

Lots of good ideas here. Just sayin'...

Yes on the welding as there is no such thing as an "easy out".

My first thought was why bother on a Taco, they run forever without changing it. My second thought was Kroil. Anything looks like it might be pretty stuck I soak it down with Kroil, let it set awhile, tap with a hammer occasionally, and things come apart. Very, very rarely do I need to get out a torch. To make "easy outs" work well you almost always have to drill the stuck part to get a good enough fit to make them work (IME, anyway.)

Fill it up through the fill hole and forget about it until you feel like taking have some free time to take it to the shop. Don't obsess over changing the differential oil, it's not going to blow up if you don't change it. I can guarantee that 95% of all the tacomas out there never have the differential oil changed and still run for hundreds of thousands of miles, it's just not that critical.

When you get some spare time in the spring take it in and tell them you want the diff oil changed. Tell them about the stripped bolt and if they're a decent shop they'll have it out in 5 minutes. It'll sure beat setting your truck on fire with a torch or trying to weld a wrench to the bolt.

Why wait for next spring.

$$$$. I'm buying a Portable Oxygen Concentrator for the wife. Priorities.