Destroyed my front diff drain plug...

Who designed that dumb thing? Anyway replaced it with the bolt head version.

Also, how the heck do you guys get your diff oil so bad? I had about 50K on my diff oil, and it was still clear-ish coming out. I saw threads here where someone had it super black after what he said was only 5K.

Magnet was pretty typical, a few bits of metal in the oil but nothing concerning.

 

How did you destroy it? Spray with PB blaster, let sit for 10 mins. Hit the plug with a hammer. Then the hex on a 2’ breaker bar.

 

Yup, and the breaker bar wouldn't get it off, and it started rounding out the plug. I ended up hammering the hex into it and using an impact to break it free.

 

Do you have the hex head or Allen key?

There's some interchangeable part numbers for the 8" to get a recessed plug with the magnet.

 

Well NOW I have this:

 

It was the allen key, if you want to call it that.

 

Is the new plug a 10mm?

 

14mm head on the new one.

 

HAHHA I'm sorry OP!!! At least you're taking one for the 3rd gen team!!!

 

I wager that you're on the end of the spectrum of never being in 4wd and only drive on pavement, while the 5k changers are on the end of the spectrum of having 35's and only drive off road.

 

I do a mix of on and off road.

 

That’s good, it should give you more mechanical advantage for next removal. I changed out the front fluid, no issues. But we don’t have to deal with any salt on the roads around here,

 

Yeah plenty of crud here. I don't know why they didn't put bolt heads on it anyway, especially when it's torqued to 49 ft lbs.

 

Same happened to me. Horrible design. Had to weld the Socket directly to the plug..came right out. Replaced it with the Lexus version that has a hex head.

 

Thankfully I didn't have to go that far.

 

did the same

 

These plugs have a metal crush gasket right? If you're having to use a breaker bar it was way over torqued when it was installed. Those don't even have a torque spec as far as I've seen so elbow tight is plenty. The problem with the external hex bolts is it can be popped loose while wheeling and eventually fall out. Seen this happen a few times. In the Land Cruiser world most people who wheel their junk swap to the 10mm internal hex like the Tacoma has.

 

The top plug has a crush washer, the bottom one is just a flat copper washer.

The skid covers the hex head bolt, I don't see how it could just "pop out".

 

Had to go look at my truck, is that the drain plug on the DS side of the diff housing? Yeah, that'd be hard to bump out even if you didn't have a skid there.

 

Yeah that's the front diff drain plug.