seized axel plug (level checker) - cant undo it!

RUDDdefender90 · Dec 22, 2009

Hey. Im having a nightmare trying to get this axel plug out, I want to check my levels. I have tried using thee DW40 everyday for past week and giving it a good go each time. Im going anticlockwise (ie lefty losey, lol) to try and unlock it with a 15" wrench, so pretty long but still not enough lever to budge it! Anyone got any ideas? tips of the trade? (I know if worst comes to worst I could pay someone to sort it, but surely I can do it, its just an axel plug!?. Same problem for both axels. But, only tried it once on the rear, as I got the socket stuck in front axel plug.

foss · Dec 22, 2009

chisel the bastarrrd

tombardier · Dec 22, 2009

Maybe a hand impact driver would do it. I've got a draper one, and that has a half inch drive on it, so ideal for that plug. You hold on to it, giving a bit of a twist, and smack it with a hammer. One of my favourite tools

This is similar to mine:

Draper Impact Driver [5010559223220] - £9.75

olmasters · Dec 22, 2009

I'd personally give a breaker bar a try, i remember when i undid my sump plug for the first time with a ratchet, i was just moving myself about on the floor, breaker bar - no problem.

If using the bar's still a problem in applying torque to the plug, pop a scaffold bar on the end.

Another trick would be to heat the threaded area of the axle with a torch, then apply ice to the plug (hopefully causing the plug to contract and the female threads in the axle case to expand) In combination with a scafold bar and breaker bar, hopefully that'll be you sorted.

Ollie

sypher · Dec 22, 2009

Have you got a paint stripper gun or them gas flame torches ? ( even better Oxy bottles ) , heat up around the plug and swing off your bar .

If it rounds off , get a mate with a welder and weld a big bolt head to it and try again .

( that Never fails , done it loads of times to landys but even more to HGV axles

)

discomania · Dec 23, 2009

DO NOT CHISEL IT and be careful if you adopt the impact wrench idea. This is a slow and easy sort of job, the diffpan is thin steel, it will tear up before any well siezed in plug comes out. Don't offer these too much abuse, if it's even slightly rusty it will tear up/deform even sooner.

Get a 2foot breaker bar or a big wrench and put it into the plug, then place under it a jack to push it up and TIGHTEN it slightly. You want to exert enough force on it, slowly so that it breaks the lock of rust, tightening in this situation is easier than undoing.

As soon as it gives even the smallest bit, stop and go the opposite way and it will come right off.

hughesy · Dec 23, 2009

Breaker bar and a piece of pipe on the end. Works every time.

Pikey · Dec 23, 2009

Yup breaker bar always works for me.

Biggest prob is people don't seem to realise its a tapered thread and tighten the fooker to extinction

RUDDdefender90 · Dec 23, 2009

yeah its bloody tight! and there is rust on it. I tried to go opp. direction in hope it would be easier to unlock. Ill try the jack. I did think of that method. But, thought I was having a weird moment, lol.

beverage · Dec 23, 2009

sypher said:
Have you got a paint stripper gun or them gas flame torches ? ( even better Oxy bottles ) , heat up around the plug and swing off your bar .

If it rounds off , get a mate with a welder and weld a big bolt head to it and try again .

( that Never fails , done it loads of times to landys but even more to HGV axles )

This man talks sense...

RUDDdefender90 · Dec 23, 2009

I have done it boys! Here is the mini-story. I got out in the freezing cold, got my jack out and my wrench, with 1/2 to 3/8 to 19mm to another attacthment to get at the axel plug. The convertor 1/2 to 3/8 died lol. But, I got a 3/4 breakers bar and 19mm and went at it with a jack. Amazing! very little effort needed. The rear worked just with the breakers bar (19"), no jack needed. Leverage is the key to success! Cheers guys!

foss · Dec 23, 2009

discomania said:
DO NOT CHISEL IT and be careful if you adopt the impact wrench idea. This is a slow and easy sort of job, the diffpan is thin steel, it will tear up before any well siezed in plug comes out. Don't offer these too much abuse, if it's even slightly rusty it will tear up/deform even sooner.

Get a 2foot breaker bar or a big wrench and put it into the plug, then place under it a jack to push it up and TIGHTEN it slightly. You want to exert enough force on it, slowly so that it breaks the lock of rust, tightening in this situation is easier than undoing.

As soon as it gives even the smallest bit, stop and go the opposite way and it will come right off.

Chisel worked fine for me, then mole grips-but mine were plastic-not anymore though.
If you do have plastic-do not breaker bar it-itll just end up in a rounded crappy mess

RUDDdefender90 · Dec 24, 2009

true with breakers bar, but I have sockets which have 12 contact points rather than 5, so stoped the rounding lark.

RUDDdefender90 · Dec 24, 2009

oh and they wasn't plastic in my case, just a lump of rust and metal

seized axel plug (level checker) - cant undo it!

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