After going at the tranny fill plug on my M47 gearbox two or three previous times, I went out this AM with purpose. My goal was to get the thing out even if it took explosives.. well, not quite, but I wasn't going to quit until it was out.
I had formulated a series of attacks, starting with benign and ending with felonious. After jacking the car about as high as I could get it, putting it on stands, and assembling the tools, lights, etc, I went to work.
My first attack was to use the Dremel tool and cutoff wheels. These are very thin and brittle, 1" abrasive wheels that when spinning at
30,000 rpm will cut just about anything (eventually) including hardened steel. I made a series of cuts along the outer edge of the plug, beign careful not to muck up the case, with the intention of relieving the tension on the sealing washer.Next I used the same tool to cut what was left of the hex head area- The hex was completely gone, so I cut the long sides of what was left parallel to each other and perpendicular to the surface. This left a ridge that looked like the turn-off on a gas main valve on your home. Viewed from above: ___ | | | | | | | | | | |___|
With that done I gripped it with an adjustable wrench, slowly increased the force against it, and it broke free! ...and there was much rejoicing.
If that hadn't worked (like if the tab broke off and left a nearly flat surface) I was going to use a narrow, tapered carbide burr to cut a slot into the plug. Into that I was going to place the blade of a wide screwdriver and then gripping the blade with an adjustable wrench for leverage, break the plug free.
If that failed I was just going to drill the thing out, bit by bit, until it came free.
My biggest worry was if the fill plug had the magnet in it like the drain plug. You don't want to drop one of those into the box!
Then it was finally time to remove the drain plug. The head on that was intact, so I used a 6pt. socket 3/8" drive ratchet, and it took another 18" long piece of pipe and a good amount of force to break that one loose. What the heck were they thinking!?
Even after all that, I checked the new replacement plugs I had already received from Volvo and when I tried screwing in the drain plug the case threads buggered up the plug.. so I used an old trick i learned from Popular Mechanics back in the 60's-
I took the old drain plug that was still intact (the fill plug was pretty much FUBAR) and using the cut off wheel once again and cut three slots across and through the threads, and then cleaning it up with a power wire brush. I turned the old bolt into a thread clearing tap! If the case of the tranny had been made of steel I would have "case hardened" the tap by heating it up and dropping it into powdered sugar. It adds just enough carbon to make it last a couple of uses.
I screwed it into the case a few times, each time a little further, cleaning out the slots I had made after each removal, and after about three times the threads in the case were clear.
The magnetic dran plug was quite covered in thick, grey, magnetic sludge, so after the case had completely drained I cut some strips og rags and using my claw retrieval tool (long, spring-like tool with a push button at one end and four claws that open and close at the other), I swabbed out the inside of the tranny case's bottom as best I could. I didn't get much dirt of filth out of that at all and was happy about that!
So my gearbox is done, and while I dirty and laying under the car I did an oil change as well, both cases now filled with Mobil 1 full syn.
And for my next trick, ladies and gentlemen....
....I'll be here all week,
..Try the veal...
__ __ Randy & \ \/ /alerie's \__/olvos '90 245 Estate - '93 965 Estate "Shelby" & "Kate"