The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot Big Bolts Rear-end Drain plug

I'm looking to drain out the old/original rear-end lube from my 2 speed.
I can't seem to find a drain plug on the bottom of the pumpkin,am I blind or just missing something?

Well, if ya cant find a plug try pulling out the bottom bolt on your cover. It should allow you to drain most of it out, and really if it's that old and nasty ya may wanna have a peek in there to see how much of it has turned to solid muck & needs to be scooped outta there anyway.

I don't think that it is really that old but it sure smells like it.

Not sure about the big bolts, but there wasn't one on our '54 3600. I think that is normal for this time period. You've got to pull the whole cover to really get it cleaned out. As pointed out, this is a good time to look everything over and scoop out any gunk that has built up.

When I was a kid and worked at a Chevy garage I was, among other things, the one who got to change oil and service the cars. We had a car that had a really funky smelling rear end and found out someone had put a banana in there to help seal it. WHEW! - worst smellin' thing ever. I can still smell it over 50 years later.

Rear end lube has always smelled like a dead skunk.

The "cool part" is when you remove the plate on the rear you can actually see where the line/level the water was floating on the 90 wt oil. Oh yea and it really smells bad...

Dave, "way back when" I think some guys thought banana's would quite down a whinning rearend....and of coarse the old tale of putting saw dust in them goes along with the same thinking!!

Yes, I've heard of the sawdust thing. So if you get one that smells like a Christmas tree then that would be a good indicater I guess. Sure beats bananas.

Back when bottle caps had little cork gaskets, people would collect hundreds of them, and pack transmissions and rear ends with them just before doing a trade-in. One guy I knew filled up an oil pan on an old Chevy engine with them, forced it up onto the block, and used 3 cans of STP and a couple of quarts of 50 weight oil to quiet down a noisy rod.
Jerry

When I do get it pulled off, and cleaned out,and go to my FLAPS is there a part # for the gasket that I'm going to get?
It's, of coarse, the 2 speed rear.

Mine has a drain plug,, but it's a square head that a crescent wrench doesn't want to stay on.

How should I grab ahold of it to turn it out?

Or just take out all the bolts to drain and check what's in there?

But then, I'll need to fill it later anyway.

So, maybe vise grips?

If you have something to grab onto, but can't get a crescent on it, then you can use a pipe wrench.

If you get it out and the head is buggered up, go to your local hardware store and get a new plug.
They are just standard pipe plugs and I think 3/8.
If you can find one that uses an allen wrench, you will not have any more problems.

I think they are NOT standard pipe plugs, yet are plugs with straight threads and a gasket.

Possibly an auto parts store will have one.
Might need to save your old one, and if it's rounded or chipped on the corners weld them back and dress it square again.

Grigg

Any response to this quest?

I had trouble finding a gasket for the same application. You could cut your own gasket by tracing the cover on gasket material. Or you could use Permatex "Right Stuff" without a gasket. I used this on my 2 spd differential cover and is real easy to use. It comes in a pressure can and also in a cartridge that goes in your common caulking gun. I noticed recently that they sell it in shorter tubes for the caulking gun, as a full size cartridge goes a long way and is a little pricey. This stuff is very easy to use and quick, and you don't have to let it set up before driving the truck. On the applications I have used it on you don't get that creep of oil or grease after awhile.

Also, my oil plug was rounded off, so I just took a file to it, making it a bit smaller and I just use a crescent wrench to remove and replace.

your local oil change place might have them in stock we carry alot of plugs