[primejo07]

my transmission drain plug is completely stuck in there. Welded a bolt on, but the welds snap every time, put an easy out in there, still wouldnt budge at all. Heated it up, hit it with a hammer, tried using a chisel... i dont know what to do now... and i have a real mess of a plug down there now. could i angle grind the head off or something? Im really stuck on this one and its pissing me off because its the only reason i cant drive around... one little drain plug!

Cheers, Josh

[Scrawny]

Try welding a nut on. Clean up the drain bung as best you can then weld in the hole of the nut. Make sure you get a good weld

[primejo07]

ive done that three times, they just keep coming off, but ill give her another go, its not the most spacious place down there

[Scrawny]

Can be done. If you have a grinder handy give it a quick clean up, that'll help the weld bite. What are you using to weld with? Don't be afraid to turn it up a bit

[primejo07]

alright, ill give it a good clean up and try again. im just using a ark and its on full amps haha, hopefully i can get this done!

[Scrawny]

Otherwise just do what Steve does and just replace the whole box

[primejo07]

uh.. youre joking right?

[Ben_Sierra]

Have you got the fill plug out or checked it yet?

If that one is as stuck as the drain plug, leave the drain plug in until after you've got the fill plug undone... Its a pain trying to fill up the gearbox with oil via the gearstick hole

[primejo07]

hahahaha! that would be a bit of a pain

yeah the fill plugs out and ready to be filled, just waiting to try and get the drain one out!
i just re welded a nut on, but the weld just snapped again. its like the drain plug has been welded on, no joke, its that tight. i cant think of any other options now! any ideas? haha, if i get any more angry ill just weld drill a hole in the plug and then weld it closed once its drained!

[tonka_tuff]

take it to your local exhuast or diff joint.. my local diff joint weled mine.. strong as only problem is that he put an imperial nut on

[prestoch]

lol i had the same problem mate, had to use the biggest easy out i had then used a shifter with a piece of pipe over the end of it. even then it took a fuck load to get the bastard out. good luck.

cheers
chris

[primejo07]

alright, see the easy outs a great idea.. but me being a cheapo, welded a bolt onto it instead. Now the head of the bolt snapped off and i just have the shaft welded onto the plug :O i seem to making things worse and worse. guess thats what happens when youre a cheap bastard

[Moph]

So the broken bolt shaft is solidly welded into the plug? If so can you drill out some angle or box section, slip it over the shaft, weld it on and use it as a lever?

[SierraDan]

Mine was stuck too so I took the box out and emptied it.
And filled through the gearstick hole.

[Scrawny]

Stick a nut over the broken shaft and fill the middle with weld. Don't weld the outside, just the inside. That way you can still get a socket on it

[primejo07]

yeah, tried the nut thing too, the weld just breaks and the nut comes off. mabye its my dodgey welding, i dont know, but it sure is giving me a hard time! cheers for the help guys.

sierra dan, yeah im thinking that might be the way to go!...

[Scrawny]

Got to be your welder. Do you have access to a mig?

[primejo07]

yeah i do, reckon that would make much of a difference?

[Scrawny]

Give it a try. I've had success doing it that way

[monley]

Is there any galv coating on the nut? That could be half the issue for your weld breaking is the weld is not burning through the galv coating...

[Jackson]

I guess you can't get two nuts on the broken shaft like a lock nut?

[Fatzook]

Get your hands on an aerosole product called 'nutcracker'. I used some today on some VERY rusty exhaust bolts, and they came off like they were brand new!

And it will be FAR more effective to weld the nut onto the drain plug with a MIG. Its very hard to plug weld with a stick, as the slag cannot escape.

[dave07]

This happened to me on my gear box and diff for the diff I used easy outs came out perfect but for the gear box I mig welde a nut and role with the thread still in there. So I used same as fatzook nutcracker aswell as wd40. What I did first is heat the plug with a butane torch then use a chisel to loosen it up soak in nutcracker and wd40 and repeat took a while but worked

[primejo07]

thanks for all your input guys, i ended up griding it back to the plug and buying a bigger, stronger easy out. it took a heck of a lot to get it out but it finally came. so relieved now my babys back on the road! woo

[trity]

yeah thats what i ended up doing, mine was stuck a beauty - got a massive easyout and used a breaker bar and a 10mm socket... bingo came out