rear diff drain and fill plugs rounded off

[caddykid88]

Hi all, I have just replaced my rear diff seals both sides and I need to change the oil which I believe is 75w/90. The problem I have is that some ****** has rounded both 17mm plugs before I owned it and I can't think the best way to remove them. I thought of welding in a bolt and weld bar to it but if that fails in left with a bolt stuck in there. The other thing to do maybe is drill it put thread on it and possibly helicoil with. 10mm bolt and copper washer. Anybody had this problem before and how did you get round it?

[rynaqui]

I was afraid of that when I gave my mechanics that same job..thankfully all was ok except one of the inner diff bolts apparently near the shaft.

This is all I remember reading that might be of some help:

http://www.s2forum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=49017&highlight=diff+plug

Best of luck!

[diesel des]

I would weld in a bolt. The heat from welding will break the corrosion....

Sent from my GT-N7105 using Tapatalk 2

[Tonks4x4]

I have done the weld a bolt in attempt on a few diffs and it worked fine, Only have I once had to drill it out and fold it in on itself.

[caddykid88]

I will try welding a bolt in then, the fill plug maybe more challenging though as it harder to get to.

[chezz]

Remove the Diff - you have no chance otherwise.

[5cylinderman]

I had a similar issue last year and was victorious with this method:
I got a 17 mm wheel nut which was about 30mm long.I bought some of that 2 pack plasticine type goo in the motor factors and mashed the wheel nut into the damaged diff bung. Leave to set for an hour while having a cold beer and hey presto.
IIRC it was an old wheel nut from a Mini which would have been 11/16'' hence a tiny bit bigger than 17mm for a better fit. I hope this helps.

[mcandmar]

Mini wheel nut eh, got a jar of them somewhere..

I have never managed to get a diff drain plug out, attempted many, but have yet to get one off. Welding a nut sounds like the answer.

[bilko0795]

Drilled both mine out and you can still get new ones from the stealers for a couple of quid.

[Error404]

I have never got one out either. This was my solution

[Monkeymagic]

I must have got lucky with mine. I have a home made 17mm wheel nut welded to a 17mm wheel bolt for the tight ones such as on tts. I would think gettin. A really good weld on it Will work

[chris]

diff

as above welded in a wheel bolt, /a few times, eventually it let go,patience then more patience, deffo quicker than dropping the diff, but you can rebush it then,,

[caddykid88]

I ended up drilling through both plugs to 6.5mm, threading the hole and screwing in an 8mm bolt cut down to size and copper washer on there for a good seal. I drained the oil out and refilled the diff put thé bolts in. All done. I will check for any leaks tomorrow, hope this works.

[Ryss]

Welded a 10mm or 11mm socket (can not remember whcih) into the filler plug, so that you can use a socket wrench to get it out. On the filler plug it can stay like that forever. Some good ideas here to replace drain plug, where a socket will help to get it out, but cause a ground clearance problem.