The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Driveline 3 Speed Transmission Servicing

Well I’m presenting to you’ll a dumb idea:
I would like to drain the oil that’s in the propeller shaft bell housing. I just don’t want to loosen the 4 bolts that hold the bell housing because it’s doing well with no leaks from that area. Yes the tranny button plug, but it doesn’t drain the oil in the bell housing area. What I’ve considered is drilling a ¼” hole on top surface of the bell housing to allow me to suction the oil therein and plug the hole with either rubber hole cover grommet or thread the hole and plug it with short butthead screw.
Yes I have a drip front the gland nut at the rear of the bell housing, but at this time I don’t want to deal with it.

It's going to be difficult to get any kind of suction gun hose past the universal joint. That area is pretty crowded. Also- - - - -how do you plan to contain the metal shavings that will be created while you're drilling the hole?
Jerry

Yes! The shavings! I thought about that. And I couldn’t come up with a realistic solution, other than apply vacuum while drilling and stop drilling just before the bit brakes through. But not convinced it would work.
Yes it’s crowded.

I just looked at a torque tube 3 speed transmission that I've got stashed away. There's a HUGE drain channel at the bottom of the ball socket area that allows lube to drain back into the main transmission case, so less than 1/2 inch of lubricant can accumulate at the very bottom of that area. If you want to drain that tiny amount for some reason, drill and tap a hole in the bottom of the transmission case fora small pipe plug- - - - -maybe a 1/4" NPT. PM me an email address, and I'll be glad to send pictures.
Jerry

My question is, why would you want to drain the lube from there?
That lube in there will be serviceable for way longer than the life of the clutch.
You have to take all of that off the next time you change the clutch anyway.
You mention that you do not have any leaks there now. That is rare. Should you develop a minor leak in that area in the near future (quite likely), fresh fluid will seep down from the transmission to replace what leaks out. Problem solved.

I have to come clean. Reason is: since my son had observed a leak at service and drain plugs I told him to check the oil level and add as needed. Well the issue was lost in translation as they say and he added oil via the servicing plug at the top rear plug. Once serviced I asked how much oil he added, response was a quart. I said well that is way too much. So I had him drain it and he commented that he observed shining specs. So when we checked the oil type we were using vs the tech manual recommended we confirmed that we were not using
mineral-based SAE 80W-90 or SAE 90 gear oil with an API GL-1 ratin. Yes we used the right viscosity oil but API GL-4. So before adding the mineral based oil I wanted to make sure I didn’t mix the mineral oil with the old oil. Amen!