Stripped Front Drain Plug

So I know a lot of people have this problem, and I tried a tap, chisel, and hammer and it’s not working out for me. Anybody else have any suggestions to get this thing off?

 

Know anyone with a welder?
Weld a nut to it?

Other wise, keep beating on it with a chisel.

 

Dang, it's normally the fill plug that people strip.

You near Fresno County? I can get you fixed up.

If so, buy yourself a fill and drain plug using the part numbers in my signature.

I'd weld a nut to that drain plug, then wrench the nut off but not before soaking it with some penetrating fluid the night before.

Also helps to stick the allen socket in there and whack it multiple times before even trying to wrench it off.

 

Take it to a shop and have them weld a nut to it. Then alternatingly heat the diff housing around the plug and trying to loosen it with an impact wrench.

 

It's rounded, completely.

 

Use a 3/4" bolt as a drift and give the plug a few good hits. Then get a dremel with a reinforced cut off wheel or a carbide burr and cut a slot just deep enough for a flat chisel to have a good place to sit. Penetrating oil for a couple hours. Use a 2 or 3 lb. hammer and FLAT chisel in the slot.

 

Impact wrench to be used on the welded nut.

 

https://youtu.be/WDOWPekMX44

 

How about that left handed drill bit for extraction

Has it ever been attempted with success on this particular plug

 

^The drain plug thread size is something like 24mm. When rusted, the threads have a tremendous amount of holding power. On my 4Runner, the hex bit didn't strip, but the plug wouldn't budge with my M18 mid-torque impact (550 ft-lb).

If you break off an extractor bit in the hole, it will worsen the situation.

 

We hammer a chisel mark into the plug and walk it out with the chisel.

 

Yikes. Mine fought me too but finally let loose with a lot of patience and pb blaster. Just make sure you replace that plug with the traditional head when you get it out.

 

Here is where having a Air Hammer pays for itself.

Soak overnight with your favorite flavor of penetrating spray.

All but two over 20 years came out .

Welding a nut is my second choice many times the heat from welding helps break things loose.

Then those allen head plugs get tossed.

 

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This is the way.

 

On my Tundra, I used this extractor set from Harbor Freight Hammered the extractor in and after a few minutes it broke free with a breaker bar. I replaced the drain and fill plugs with the Lexus parts mentioned above.

 

Nice work! I personally used a hand pump to change my fluid through the fill hole and pretended to forget about the problem. Welding a nut to it or the above seems like the best methods. I'd be VERY cautious using heat on the housing as oil under pressure and heat can explode (leaving the fill plug out would remedy this). And I'd NEVER personally try and drill this out as the shavings would forever be present in the differential no matter how well you "think" you cleaned it. Eventually leading to premature failure of the entire unit.

 

Making sure your vent works is a good idea!