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MGB diff. plug removal

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Old and In the Way

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Any suggestions on removal of the differential oil plug on an MGB? Seems like it's 1/2 in. square inset, but a 1/2 ratchet won't fit in. Haven't seen a tool in Moss and the local NAPA guy started laughing (could be the rear end plug comment).
 
The drain plug on my MGA, which I imagine is the same as the MGB, needs a 7/16 inch drain plug socket. The tool for the drain plug is supplied in the MGA toolkit. All it is, is a piece of 7/16 inch square stock about 1 1/2 inches long. You would use a crescent wrench to turn the square stock. I believe that British Tool Company sells them www.britishtool.com as well as other british tool suppliers.
You could also take a junky half inch drive extension and grind one end down to a 7/16 inch square - that is what I would do in a pinch! Of course the little retaining ball and spring will pop out, but who cares! If you want to go high zoot, you could go with MAC tools - they sell oil drain plug sockets in 7/16 inch size, part number VP14.
 
OK, here's a twist. The plug on my GT is all rounded out from years of the PO's usinmg just about any tool they couls find. Anyone have any tricks to pulling the plug without removing the cover and drilling it out?
cryin.gif
 
weld a 3/8" to 1/2" bolt in rounded out hole, use socket to remove it & your rounded out one, replace rounded out one with new plug!
 
Yeah, you might want to keep wet towles on outside of differential or bags of ice...however, with just a few quick zaps from your mig welder, it shouldn't do any damage though I'd change the rear end fluid afterwards...
 
Peter is right it is 7/16 square. I got a 3 inch long piece of 7/16 square rod at Lowes hardware for about $0.90. That and a vise grip works great and cheap.

Jim
 
I just got an oil removal system, so I don't have to remove the plug from Silver anymore. I really like it, and to test the theory, I did pull the plug after the first use, and not a drop came out. It was nifty.

D'oh. The differential is an entirely different animal, sorry, been up for nearly 36 hours and shouldn't be posting in this state.

MattP

[ 07-25-2003: Message edited by: MattP ]</p>
 
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