rear diff. fill bolt welded..
#1
rear diff. fill bolt welded..
So like the title says... I went to put in/change out the gear oil and the fill bolt is welded and chewed up bad enough where i can't get it with the socket. I was just wondering if anyone here could tell me other ways to put gear oil in there besides the fill bolt. I was thinking on the opposite side if I remove the drive shaft from the rear axle and the round part after that, could i just funnel it in there from that spot? Someone please offer some suggestions cause I know my truck needs it and I love her too much to let this go unfixed .
#3
sorry i hope that message wasn't too confusing, im just kinda tired. I would try that if I had a welder, but i don't even know if I could break the weld of the bolt/washer to the axle. How hard is an old weld to brake by hand? I have a 18"+ breaker bar that is real solid and I could do about 350-400ftlbs of torque by hand, would that do it?
#4
Registered User
you'd be havin to kick it to exert like 700-1200 ft/lbs of torque on it for maybe a split second, that MIGHT do it. depends on if the person who welded it knew what they were doin or not.
#7
With the hex head type, try pounding on a size smaller socket and then hitting it with an impact. If that doesn't work, welding on a cheap nut works too.
Not really hard with either type of plug to get it off, just takes some patience.
Last edited by waskillywabbit; 09-21-2008 at 06:28 AM.
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#9
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I had this problem earlier this month. Take an angle grinder and slowly cut off layers of the bolt head. This will relieve the tension on the threads and you should be able to start to get it out.
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Nelson M, if it's true, and your drain-plug is welded...literally. Your best option would be to drill out the exsisting bolt and simply re-tap it for a bigger bolt using a fine-thread tap. Put a nylon washer and some teflon tape on the new larger bolt and your good to go. Another option you want to try first wouuld be taking an angle grinder or better yet and small die-grinder with a small cut-off wheel and try to cut the weld away from the bolt. This is a serious pita but I've done it on large-equipment after guys have "tack" welded bolts rather than using red lock-tite. Good luck.
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#16
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a dremel well the one i got works great for small accurate work like grinding weld.... also a air die grinder would work good too. i would just empy it around the diff and fill through breather.. unless its a daily driver in which case i would fix it of just swap another axle as i have many!
#17
Thanks everyone, lot of good ideas here, I will permanently fix it once I get enough money to buy something.. right now I just need to replace the fluid or just put some in period cause I know its probably low cause I have never changed it and it has 265k miles on it. I can remove the drain bolt without a problem and I was just wondering exactly where is the breather? I'm pretty new to all this work but I like to learn it. And yeah it is actually welded solid on the axle, and its a good weld..
I do drive it everyday, so i can just replace the fluid now and fix it for good when i aint broke.
I do drive it everyday, so i can just replace the fluid now and fix it for good when i aint broke.
#19
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As soon as I find a picture of the diff breather
I'll post it here for ya.
here is a pic I pirate off of 4x4wire. The breather is the smaller tube coming from the top of the axle hump just to the left as TeamGonja stated.
I'll post it here for ya.
here is a pic I pirate off of 4x4wire. The breather is the smaller tube coming from the top of the axle hump just to the left as TeamGonja stated.
Last edited by rngrchad; 09-22-2008 at 03:34 PM.
#20
Contributing Member
Yours probably doesn't have the tube, just a little metal cap fitting coming out of the axle on the left.
I would highly recommend you fix it properly though. Cut/Grind the weld, then use one of the techniques above.
I did the "weld a 5' bar" on the fill plug once ...
I would highly recommend you fix it properly though. Cut/Grind the weld, then use one of the techniques above.
I did the "weld a 5' bar" on the fill plug once ...
Last edited by tc; 09-22-2008 at 08:24 PM.