Okay, so I wwas happily going about life and getting ready to drain/refil the rear diff in my Tundra. I was using the only socket that fit, a 24mm, and I had drenched the bolts with penetrating lube for the past week and a half. I figure, how hard could this be...a quart of fluid, some free time, and a couple new washers. Ten bucks is less than the 46 the stealer wants.

So i have no air tools, and am getting rady to use a basic ratchet and short extension to do this, and well...things went wrong.

I was being smart, and didn't undo the drain plug first, I went right for the fill bolt. Low and behold, I have the fill bolt almost rounded off. Not good, considering I have no idea how to take it off! So long story short (too late for that), I would like some help in getting it to come off.

--Adam

 

craftsman makes bolt/nut remover sets for rounded bolts/nuts, not sure how big the make them, my set will be too small for 24mm. There are other guys making somthin similar as well.

here a pic
http://www.ezdries.net/Vidpics/Dayst...%20remover.JPG

 

Have a large nut welded to the plug and twist it out.

 

Both good ideas. I am thinking about saving the welding of anything for last resorts. I don't have access to a welder, so it'd have to be done at a muffler shop or something. But, I'll be workin' on it tomorrow if this rain stops for me. I am not lucky enough to have garage access at this time so...

Heh, maybe the truck bed will protect me from the downpour while I work on this.

--Adam

 

try a 15/16th inch socket, I believe that comes out to 23.something mm and fits a lot better.

 

And make sure it's a 6-point socket, not 12-point. You could also heat it up with a simple propane torch as well. Half the benefit of welding on a nut is the heat generrated.

Oh, BTW, get another plug now and toss the one you're fighting with once you get it off . I prefer aftermarket plugs myself as they always seem to be thicker and much easier for a wrench/socket to grab onto.

 

Good luck on your bolt removal - a 15/16" wrench fits nice and maybe you'll need a cheater to boot. Just make sure everything is flush and make a straight pull. That rear differential will take approximately 3.5 quarts of fluid. Fill it with a full synthetic 75/90 and forget about it for the next 200,000 miles

 

clamp a big pair of visegrips heat it up then it should come out

 

Hey, these are all kinds of good ideas. I never thought to look for an aftermarket bolt either. I noticed the one I got from Toyota (Nice guy at the parts counter decided to gimme a break, 2 bucks for the bolt and a small handfull of those washers. Bonus!) looked a little...cheap-o. Not the greatest looking bolt I've even seen what with the slightly already rounded corners and not much of a sidewall to grab onto, but I'm sure if I'm the only one who's gonna touch it going in/out of that diff, I have nothing to worry about.

Thanks again for the ideas. Lots of good stuff! It's raining pretty hard right now and with no garage cover, this should be rather interesting.

I havea trip to Sears coming up, and hopefully I can find a six point. I haven't seen one of those in a long time in a Metric size that large. If worse comes to worse, i can always try the loners from the local chain parts store.

--Adam

 

Not sure if you can get a plumber's wrench on that rounded nut, but that may be a cheap way to get it off.

 

Two things to do if you get desperate:

1. Use a hammer and chisel to turn it.

2. Remove the diff vent and use a small funnel to fill it through there.

HTH, DMG

 

Not a problem. Vise grips seem to work the best for me on rounded off diff fill bolts. Welding a nut on should be your last resort and often, the nut just spins off unless a smaller nut is used and it's welded around the outside. Filling the inside of the nut isn't enough to hold usually. The hammer and chisel or punch to turn it works good to but that's only oif you can't get a grip on it with some vise grips.

Anoter YT member came over to my house a few weeks ago to fix this same problem. Vise grips and a bench press of about 250lbs broke it loose and that's after he rounded every corner and had a muffler shop weld on a nut that just broke off when he torqued on it. His nut was SERIOUSLY rounded.

It's been my experience that when those get rounded, with the head being so slim, you just can't get a good enough bite with a pipe (plumbers/monkey) wrench.

Good luck man!



Doh!!! I just noticed I'm 11 days late. You get'r'dun yet?

 

Ya, interested parties want to know how you came out.

I'll post a little trick most of you probably know, but for those that don't. If you have to use heat on a bolt - use a small bar of paraffin wax - The wax sucks right up like solder and the bolt "normally" will back on out. Normally works good on old rusty exhaust bolts (prior to twisting them off).

 

How I ironic, I just did my rear dif two weekends ago also, but the crush washers, I had to pay two buck for the two washers (drain and refill), I just didn't want to drive to the other dealership that gives me a hookup.

So yah how did you get the bolt off?