Gearbox filler and Drain Plug, help

[YellowVan]

Hi,

Just in the process of changing a driveshaft on one of my F4's and two problems,, I can not for love nor money get the filler and drain plugs/bolts undone. They are 10mm square headed and my open 10-mm spanner is opening up on them and slipping off. Dont want to nacker the heads too much if at all. Any ideas people, is this a common problem?

Should have finished the job by now, ahhhh

Thanks in advance.

 

[malcolm]

You can buy a 10mm square ring spanner for the job. A local motor factor should sell them as they are fairly common. Often they are very tricky to undo - they have tapered threads which can get very tight if they were overtightened last time they were undone.

 

[YellowVan]

Cheers,
Had a go with a square 10mm socket i found but they are so tight I think they might snap off.

With the filler for the oil not being much above the driveshaft do you think if I jack the car up high on one side and fill it from the driveshaft hole in the gearbox I will get enough in for it to be ok? ; not ideal I know.

Thanks

 

[jjad]

They do snap off - ours was snapped off when bought and was very difficult to then get out to replace.

Don't know about using the driveshaft hole I'm afraid.

 

[Pavel]

The drain plug is quite soft. I tortured it by the shift spanner easy. However I´m not a muscleman. :eek:

 

[malcolm]

I can't see anything wrong with filling via the driveshaft hole - assuming there is a path for the oil to go in through the driveshaft hole and the car is at the right angle. There'll be gears in the way though so it might be messy.

 

[MATTT]

maybe soak it with penetrting oil every day for a while
duck oil or wd40
then if no joy warm up the surrounding area with oxy acet torch
my dad has a set of bottles and a bit of heat always seems to do the trick

 

[reidalpine]

Hi yellowvan! try to heat up the gearbox itself-then put some icecubes in a plastic bag and cool off the drain-plug only.
Also have a go with a hammer-A good solid blow square on the head
will often do the trick! (Don't smash it SO hard that you crack the casing though!) Last I can think of is to spotweld the square 10mm
socket to the drain-plug using a longer pipe on it will give you good
moment-try pulling it evenly-no sudden force as this could ruin the plug.. A hammer-blow or two directly on it as you pull....
If you have 3 arms you can do it by yourself -Or do as I do call the wife!!-Hope you get it undone -R,

 

[YellowVan]

Thanks for all the replies people,

Some good ideas there; as I needed to use the car (its my main mode of transport) I jacked it up on the replacement driveshaft side and used a squeezey bottle with a pipe attached on the end (actually it was a pig AI bottle and catheter with the spiral end cut off, too much info i know but they have many different uses) and squeezed the oil in until I got in what felt about right for the angle of the car.

So thats got me out of a jam for now though I really do need to shift these plugs so will let you know how I get on.

If anyone has any more ideas please do post them.

Thanks again

 

[mr-reno-139]

ive been quiet for a while so will suggest if you are a true r4 fan you will have in your tool collection a 10mm brake adjusting spanner for the early drum brake models

mine is made by williams (old tool maker like draper or sykes pickavant )
spanner has open and solid square one end
tap square on as far as it will go usedcarefull will hopefully undo
if it is already mangled a good quality bi hex 11mm 3/8 drive socket can be banged on square end first then use ratchet into 11mm bi hex to undo

other options include finding hex nut big enough to tap over square
welding nut on then using spanner as heat from welding should loosen taper threads

have fun