I know I'm stupid, but....(trans question)

So I go to change the gear oil in my trans before leaving on a fishing trip. I just bought this 93 sport, 5 speed with 143k and wanted to start fresh, y'know? I think the trans is an AX5. Anyway, I spent four hours trying to get the drain bolt out. I'm not a small guy and I put everything I had into it and the frickin thing won't budge. I thought the drain and fill plugs were torqued to like 20lbs max. I soaked it in pb for two days and that didn't help, but there's no rust anyway cause these are aluminum, right? I'm out there bangin it with a rubber mallet, tried wrenches with a breaker bar, sockets, etc. The only thing I can think of is if the previous owner put loctite on em, but I doubt it. Anyone ever have this trouble before? An impact wrench wouldn't even fit up by the fill plug and as for a torch, well...I still like life and don't want to blow up. The trans works fine but now it's the point of the whole thing. Any thoughts are much appreciated. Happy New Year everyone.

mike

Mike, put the breaker bar back on it and apply as much pressure as you can. Then tap the bar end with a heavy hammer, while holding pressure against the bar. The idea is to get vibrations on the plug, like an impact wrench would do. A rubber mallet is not enough, you need to hit it with sharp raps from a heavy steel hammer. Good luck.

ya in must be a steel hammer. try with and without the bar. The bar may soak up the impact.

Hey, thanks for the advice guys. Got out there and both plugs took 4 hits with the steel hammer and came right off. I appreciate your help.

I got the oil drained and it looked like melted chocolate ice cream in a bowl of ice tea. Real cloudy. I hope this thing hasn't been submerged or anything.

Well, thanks again and on to the next problem.

mike

Mike,
Just had to comment on your name...Banjos ARE underated. I have been trying to learn to play my Deering Goodtime for three years! Frustrating.
Hartford was my hero

KY Chris

Make sure you put GL-3 in there! Is it a I-4 or I-6? Not that it matters.

Hey Chris. The banjo is the most versatile string instrument in my humble opinion. I've been playing for six years and still aren't very good. Good fun though.

Hey Ghost, i used Mobil 1 synth. 75w90. Adverts. on the bottle said surpasses GL5. I hope this is ok. The trans (AX15) has 144k on it and I'm hoping it'll go another 50k or so. The enigine seems great so if I can stretch out both til 200k, I'll rebuild the engine and get a new-used trans.


Take care all.

banjos=underrated said:

Hey Chris. The banjo is the most versatile string instrument in my humble opinion. I've been playing for six years and still aren't very good. Good fun though.

Hey Ghost, i used Mobil 1 synth. 75w90. Adverts. on the bottle said surpasses GL5. I hope this is ok. The trans (AX15) has 144k on it and I'm hoping it'll go another 50k or so. The enigine seems great so if I can stretch out both til 200k, I'll rebuild the engine and get a new-used trans.


Take care all.

Click to expand...

Sorry Ghost...it's a I6.

I cannot remember what it is, gut GL-5 lubs eat the syncro's in the AX-5 and AX-15. The syncros are brass and require GL-3 lub. Some on here say the synthetics do not do that to the syncros. I decided to go with the Jeep recominded lube personally. If you are concerned do a search and or look up the Mobil 1 ingrediants. Seems like someone on one of the threads here said what it was in GL-5 that ate the syncros. But I cannot remember.....

Ghost said:

I cannot remember what it is, gut GL-5 lubs eat the syncro's in the AX-5 and AX-15. The syncros are brass and require GL-3 lub. Some on here say the synthetics do not do that to the syncros. I decided to go with the Jeep recominded lube personally. If you are concerned do a search and or look up the Mobil 1 ingrediants. Seems like someone on one of the threads here said what it was in GL-5 that ate the syncros. But I cannot remember.....

Click to expand...

I think redline was listed as one of the few synths that acutally is supposed to be good to the synchros and then some use the gl4~5 or gl3~5 stuff.... I personally use the GL3 from the dealeras , even though it's slightly more expensive (not that much more then mobile 1) it's specifically GL3. As ghost says, run a search, as it's a popular topic.

Kejtar
P.S. IIRC Mobil 1 is definately one of the ones not to put in there.

Thanks for the warnings fellas. I did look at the old posts and I thought it'd be fine to use synth. The service guy at a dealer near here did say that GL3 is the only thing that can be used but an engineer at Mopar I just talked to said that I'd be fine. I guess i'll be a guinea pig and find out. The eng. said that the Viper six speed trans has brass synchros and it's filled with synthetic but as far as brand, who knows. Here goes nothin!