Stripped Front Diff Drain Plug

I've tried breaker bars, hitting ratchet with 4lb sledge, heat, hammer and chisel, etc.

What's my best next step?

Take it to shop and ask them to weld a nut on?

Try my air hammer w/ chisel after some more heat? (This one scares me a bit, don't want to slip and nick my diff case).

Any advice is appreciated. I have Lexus plugs with the hex head ready to go in, whenever I get this pesky sucker out.

*Ignore the fluid film residue in the vicinity*

 

Insert the hex socket and give it a few good whacks to basically jam it into the hole and slowly wrench it out. Probably ruin the socket but thats easily replaced

Otherwise welding the nut on would be your best chance at this point.

Best of luck

 

Man sorry to hear that. Really odd, some folks including myself had no issues with it. Others I’ve seen in situations just like yours.

I’d echo mentioned above but add heat to it as well. Essentially adding to ways for extraction in one. Good luck and hope it comes out!

 

I’ve hit the plug with a hammer before and it’s helped to loosen it. Careful with that aluminum casing not to miss. And when I say hit, I swung pretty hard. Looks like you’re to the point where hammer n chisel is your best bet. Keep hitting, and put a little more muscle in to it.

 

Mine did that, I welded the Allen socket into it and it's still like that to this day

 

Odd my one came lose with cold chisel and 2#sledge…

 

Is your fill plug loosened?

 

Yea it was off entirely.

 

Ok, so I got her off. Decided to just put the fill plug back on and drive to a local welding shop. Guy charged me $20 to weld an old castle nut I had lying around onto the drain plug.



Now it looks like this with the Lexus replacement plugs:



Why on Earth is Toyota still using these Allen head plugs?

 

Great..

 

I just wrestled with 24mm hex heads on the t-case and transmission fill of the old Sequoia - 10mm Allen on the front diff was no problem.

 

Interesting. I think mine was way over-torqued because it already looked more like a 12 point instead of a 6 point Allen when I started the job. The truck got its diffs drained and filled 7k miles ago at the dealer (before I owned it) and I bet they used an impact gun and started the rounding process.

I've heard that the transfer case and rear diff 24mm plugs actually fit more snugly into a 15/16" socket, and therefore are less likely to round off if you use that instead (read that in the 1st gen Tacoma forums, so not sure if that applies to Tundras or not). No clue why that'd be and I've never tried it myself to confirm because I only own metric sizes lol

 

Is the part # 90341-24016 for the new drain plug ?

 

Yup

90341-24016 - Drain Plug
90341-18060 - Fill Plug

 

Thanks..

 

I used an easy out from Harbor Freight on mine.

 

That would have been my suggestion.

 

See you got it off. Not sure what size that bolt was but google opti grip hex sockets. A few companies make them and they are the best sockets for getting out stripped hex bolts. Also make them for torx bolts as well.

Example
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Lfj0Sv7eafM

 

Replace with Lexus plug

 

Yea I did

 

Do these work for the rear diff also?

 

Not needed on the rear diff. The rear diff already has hex plugs which a 24mm socket should fit on.

 

Interesting tidbit about the rear diff plug though. I've found a 15/16" socket fits tighter than a 24mm on the rear diff plugs. Helpful to minimize chances of rounding those out

 

That's a great option, but would not have been helpful at all in this situation.

 

Good question…

I had both feet on a breaker bar and couldn’t get it loose ….
Put my tail between my legs and took it to dealer
Mechanic let me watch him take it out …up on lift…big ass hammer, knocked the crap out of it …

Something bout different metals I think

Switched out both plugs like you

 

That's bizarre that you didn't strip it out with that much force. It's hard not to think the engineers had ill motives, when they chose to use the allen-head bolts, considering they put proper plugs on Lexus vehicles.

 

True story
I didn’t try very long , nervous something was gonna break
Tech said they’re always hard to get out, but hammer is what they do, and they just put back the same plug
Interestingly, the filler plug wasn’t hard to get out
Someone smarter than me may know why that is (diff metal??)

 

I would have tried soaking it in pb blaster. I had to on my rear diff on my previous truck and it helped.