Started with spraying oil, now it's down to stuck bolts

[nox654]

New day, new excitement with the truck... I drove it from Portland, OR to Seattle, WA yesterday. Felt ok on the freeway, nothing of note until I arrived and looked at the back of the car. There was a very distinct spatter pattern originating from some heavy oozing around the rear passenger side wheel, on the inside. I cleaned everything off and decided to wait and see what was actually letting oil loose. What I wiped off appeared to be pretty clean, yellowish in nature. I checked the brake fluid levels just in case (brakes were slightly squishy but it's hard to judge since I try to avoid sudden braking in general), those looked fine.

Cut to this morning, I go out to reassess. There's no puddle, so it's not aggressive, but there are still a few drops oozing/surface coating the bits between the boot and the wheel, and a very clear line from the middle of the wheel to the ground. I researched around here, and in my manuals and decided to explore the oil level in the wheel drive. To do this I needed to loosen the filler plug...except it's stuck tight as can be. I put an allen wrench on it, I put a head on the compressor and went at it: all to no avail. I'm wary of stripping out the bolt head so I think I might try taking it to a shop tomorrow to see if they're better equipped. If any one else has any ideas (relating to the stuck bolt or the problem in general) I am all ears. Bonus points if you're in Seattle and can physically look at it.

[Jim LaGuardia]

Use the hammer from your tool kit and smack the plug, this will in most cases free up the plug.
Use at least a 16" breaker bar on the allen socket.

[nox654]

Use the hammer from your tool kit and smack the plug, this will in most cases free up the plug.
Use at least a 16" breaker bar on the allen socket.

Ah, forgot to try smacking it straight out. I did attempt a breaker bar but with a cheaper socket. Investing in a better one is definitely on the list of things to do tomorrow.

[EmbarkChief]

Buy two

[63rover]

Try a little heat from a propane torch.

[Pinz710m2]

You might try an inductive coil to heat it up. I borrowed one
from a friend who is a master mech. It's a lot safer and less likely
to do damage. You just hold it near the plug and the metal heats up.

[nox654]

I feel like I'm missing some form of key information here, for example "oh this actually is a counterclockwise bolt" , but I don't know what it is. I got a breaker arm with the correct size hex key and and for funsies managed to pop all 4 of the drain plugs, but none of the fill plugs. Additionally I tried banging and a little liquid wrench on the bugger that started this endeavor. [Yes I did retighten them all afterwards] Next up is a test drive to see if I can reproduce what happened, in addition to warming bolts up because I'm without a torch at the moment.

Aside from all of this, I'm lead to the greater question of how often should one really need to drain and refill, or ever even actively maintain, the wheel drives? And is this even a possible/realistic source of the oil splatter that I'm seeing?

[undysworld]

Nope, not counterclockwise.

To answer the "greater question". These trucks aren't cheap, and parts are downright expensive. The multiple gearboxes will suffer with inadequate lube, so maintaining them should be one of your greater priorities.

And your wheel drives probably only contain two fluids: brake fluid and gear lube. Of course, water is sometimes found in there too. Gear lube typically has a noticeable odor which most people on earth find objectionable. A sniff might well identify what it is.

I don't know how medieval you have gone with your drain bolts, but some of them can be real S.O.B.'s. I've used a long breaker arm together with a pipe extension on some before they've broken free. It might be one of those instances of simply pushing harder.

[krick3tt]

Might have been a poor choice to remove drain plugs before fill plugs. If you can't fill it then draining it would not be wise.

Use a slightly larger allen to remove the plugs, filing it down to create a tight fit and use lots of leverage. If the centre is stripped out you will have a rough time getting the plugs out.

Just what I had to do as I don't think they had been removed for quite awhile and the fluid was a bit discolored and I am thinking it was water in there. Had to tap one to loosen it.
I have purchased all new hex bolt plugs for the next time I change the lube, also new washers. Probably do it in the spring next year.

[nox654]

Sorry, I should amend my words. Not oil but yes, only gear lube and brake fluid down there. And I didn't loosen the drain plugs enough to drain anything, just got that initial pop to make sure I could and then promptly retightened them.

I'm 100% for maintaining vehicles, so even if this is the kind of thing thats supposed to get changed every 10 years I want to know where I stand now. I'm just trying to understand I need to put it on the grand checklist.

[edzz]

maintenance chart http://madscientisthut.com/sdp-pin/4x4_ ... art_ES.pdf

From http://madscientisthut.com/sdp-pin/html/site_map.html

[Jimm391730]

I finally got one of these and love having just the 10mm driver: http://www.harborfreight.com/12-in-driv ... 67895.html. There are others available but this is the heaviest that I've ever seen/used. That and a long breaker bar will get them loose every time.

90% of all the Hex cap bolts in the Pinz are 10mm, so invest in a good tool.

If you ever get one that strips, find a slightly larger Torx head and pound it into the stripped brass head, then use the breaker bar to remove it. I've also used a 1/2" female to 3/8" male drive converter; sharpen the top edge by grinding the top flat (so you get very crisp corners) and drive it into the buggered plug with a hammer. Between the hammering and the now tight four cornered tool will get it out. All turn the "normal" way (lefty-loosey, righty-tighty).

I ruined a Pinz transmission by only checking it once a year. It didn't leave any marks, so I expected that it was keeping fluid levels up. But it dribbled so slowly, over time, that Jim L. got a big job to rebuild it as I had burned out the input gears which are first in the transmission (and due to the angle of the tranny, sit highest at the engine end of the case) and on my long uphill runs in 4th definitely take a beating if the oil level isn't right.

[nox654]

Update... I went to see a friend who has an even bigger bar and better tools. We managed to pop my suspected right rear fill plug and lo and behold there was about a cup too much of lube in there. Checked out everybody else in the process and those levels were all right where they should be. Guess the excess had to go somewhere when it got hot from the freeway drive. Will continue to monitor but I feel better that I now know where everybody is at.

Also, hot damn! I love charts like that! Much thanks for the point out.

[undysworld]

Well, that's sort of good news, bad news. Good news that the fluid levels are not low. Possible bad news that a wheel drive is high, since it probably came from the differential.

The question is, how quickly?

Diff fluid should be contained within the diff by seals. Replacing them is a bit of work. So long as you keep all the fluid levels where they should be, all is good, even if the seals weep some. Close monitoring of your fluid levels is probably in order for now, at least until you get an idea of what's happening.

[nox654]

Well, that's sort of good news, bad news. Good news that the fluid levels are not low. Possible bad news that a wheel drive is high, since it probably came from the differential.

The question is, how quickly?

Diff fluid should be contained within the diff by seals. Replacing them is a bit of work. So long as you keep all the fluid levels where they should be, all is good, even if the seals weep some. Close monitoring of your fluid levels is probably in order for now, at least until you get an idea of what's happening.

How quickly did it drain out you mean? Or...? If the diff fluid is the culprit and gaskets are blown, where else can I check that?