Getting The Diff Bung Plugs Off

[central coast person]

For the last hour i have been trying to crack the filler plug for the rear diff and am getting no where.

Ive covered it in WD40 and that wont help it slip all it did was make the rachet slide out of the bung plug and strip it a bit.

You can see the top one tucked behind the exhaust pipe.

I dont want too try anymore till i can get some advice on this plug

The rear is easy too get too but its not worth trying to break it if i cant get the filler plug off

Help please!!!

Edited April 17, 2010 by central coast person

[Duncan]

yeah these things can suck hard to undo if they have been in for a while.

you need to get a long breaker bar onto it, but it is essential that you have it exactly 90o to the plug otherwise it will round off. If you need to use an extension to do that keep it as short as possible.

you may then need a long extension to the breaker bar to get enough leverage....but if you are doing this on the ground/stands there is often not space.

Sometimes on tough bolts you can heat them with a gas torch which helps loosen them, but not a good idea with a filler plug.

but frankly....it might just be easiest to take it to a shop and get them to do it on the hoist, you can spend more breaking and fixing stuff than it would cost for someone with the right tools to undo it....

[central coast person]

fair enough. I might go take it for a 15min drive and heat the diff up and then try it that way first. If its not hot enough then ill heating it up with the butane torch =\

Hopefuly i can keep it away from the mechanics haha just dont trust them with my bottle of redline

Thanks Duncan!!!

[central coast person]

To anyone doing this i advise going for the 15min drive too heat things up a bit, once thats done its a job for to guys. I held the rachet ontop while my dad held it on the bottom and we both pulled it and it slowly budged and so on and on.

Basicly need a lot of force too get these things off......

[Duncan]

great to hear it came out OK! I think letting some wd40 soak in for a while helps too

[Victory]

I had the exact problem on my GTR to the point where we rounded to plug.

We finally got it off with a very big "easy out" a long breaker bar and a couple of metres of pipe - pulling on the pipe was even making the car go up and down until there was an all mighty crack and it came free.

The best thing is that the same part number for this filler plug also fits a Nissan Patrol - if you buy the part for the Patrol it is heaps cheaper than the one for the Skyline.

[GTR-N1]

Geez you guys are persistent.

I knew about the breaker bar (with pipe extension) being necessary but we only have a short one, so I took it to a workshop.

Good to know about the Patrol plug Charles. Thanks.

[Duncan]

one other thing.....no need to do it up so tight when it goes back in!

They are a tapered fitting but still....

We do them up to a "reasonable" tightness and then use lock wire to make sure they are not going to come undone unexpectedly on the race car. We have never seen evidence that they are coming undone when they are only tight (as opposed to VFT which they all seem to be when we get them!)

[30detkiwi]

also just ta put my 2cents in,if i have tite bolts at all i cant get undone i try tightening them more to crack the seal doesn't always work but may just help sum 1.i find a trolly jack handle on a breaking bar is the king

[mad082]

going for a drive to heat it up will work best if you have a can of freeze spray (such as loctite freeze and release). the reason being is that when metal heats it expands, so yes the diff housing will expand and make the hole a bit bigger, but the bung will expand as well so it will be in there just as tight (although sometimes the heating and cooling process can be enough to break the grip of the thread on the bolt, but other times it won't make a difference). take the car for a drive to heat up the diff housing. then when you go to pull the bung out, spray the inside of the bung (there bit where the socket goes) with a heap of the freeze spray. this will cool the bung down and make it shrink a bit and be a bit easier to come out.

[tridentt150v]

an impact wrench or rattle gun can also help to crack it, I don't use 'em to do them up, but they do OK to get them loose.

[08yannch]

+1 4 the rattle gun if it will fit. but the filler is probs to hard to get to with the gun.

always remember to undo the filler first because what if u drain the diff and then cant get the filler off

and when the rattle gun dont work i grab the longest length i can find of steel and then get the second biggest piece of steel and attach that and then i put my tire iron on the end. M=Fd more torque

[central coast person]

I ended up doing a DIY on the front and rear diff oil change. I had no problem with 3 of the 4 bungs its just the filler on the rear diff was so stuck, I doubt it had been changed before and heat it and using a Giant 3 meter long piece of wood to leaver the handle of the rachet up was enough too crack the seal and then it was a two man job to spin it 10 times too losen it enough to spin of with the rachet normaly ............... just seems like a 1 hour process is a bit anoying to take a bung plug off, but atleast its off an back on the way it was sapose to be

EDIT: i would have gotten a air gun but the exhaust is like 2inches away from the bung plug so its simply a rachet job and breaker bar ...... or breaker wood

Edited April 20, 2010 by central coast person