Draining ERA differential

[clayfoushee]

Thanks much. Great picture, and fabulous cars.

[chuckbrandt]

If your plug is stripped I'd get a craftsman bolt out kit like this one.

http://www.sears.com/sr/javasr/produ...&bidsite=CRAFT

It should work in the confines of the suspension mount. I've used them to remove the dowel pins from the back of a block and they take a lot of abuse.

Chuck

[DonC]

Thanks for all the input and advise.
Fortunately the head of the plug isn’t stripped yet and I was able to find a ½” 8 point socket. I’ll try it this spring when I drain and refill the differential again. Since the plug head is a generous ½” I still may have to go the easy-out route but I’m keeping my fingers crossed that I won’t have to. If I do have to go easy-out I’ll pick up a replacement plug and machine the head to a true ½” for future work.
This time I was able to suck the existing lube out with a fluid extractor and got (I think) almost all of it. It just would have been much easier if I could have gotten the plug out.
Also picked up a 9/16” 8 point, which fits the TKO600 plugs, although I can get to those with a regular wrench.
DonC

[nniets]

OK, I realize that I'm just a tad late with this (13 years or so) but I found a simple workaround for removing the square head drain plug. I replaced my diff fluid today and needed to pull the drain plug. I read this thread first and was aware of the issue with the square headed plug. Not having any 4 or 8 point sockets, I poked around in my drawer of half in drive sockets and discovered that you place a 19/32nds socket backwards on a 4' extension. This leaves you with a 1/2 inch drive square hole on either end. I clipped a long ratchet into one end and stuck the other on the square headed plug, which came out easily.

The trick is having the 19/32 socket. Hell, I had three in my little drawer of sockets. I can't find a full set of any normal sizes, but I had 3 of the crappy ones. BTW - I used the Moroso climbing gear lube and 2 bottles of GM additive, and a short test drive (5 miles) showed no clunking in the rear end. Fingers crossed...

Ron