Plastic cone fell inside front diff (1 Viewer)

[revelario]

I was almost done with my front diff fluid flush when the black plastic tip from the Mobile 1 75-90 quart fell into the front diff fluid hole.

Has this happened to anybody on here before? I saw a thread about a tip in the t-case, but didn’t find one on the front diff. Will the tip get chewed up safely and somehow spit out next time I flush the fluid? Or should I try somehow to fish it out?

Any tips would be GREATLY appreciated. It’s not my daily driver but I don’t want it to sit for weeks. I don’t want to have to pull the diff apart for this but if I have to, I guess I’ll have to figure out a way to do that.

Before anybody flames me for not using a gear oil pump for this job (which I have!!), rest easy on the fact that I also accidentally punched myself in the nose with the breaker bar this morning while loosening the old diff drain plug.

 

[chap79]

Drain it and flush with more oil till it comes out. Otherwise you could pull the third to get to it. But that would be the last resort.

 

[mingles]

once in a lifetime screw-up

 

[flintknapper]

It's soft plastic, no match for the gears that will make short work of it IF it ever happens to go through them. Don't give it another thought.

 

[Railwelder93]

Damn man, rough day.

If I had to bet I’d say you could forget that it ever happened and nothing would ever come of it.

Little plastic cap<everything in that diff

But even feeling that way about it, I know if it was my truck it would bug me so bad I’d have to get it out.

 

[Railwelder93]

It's soft plastic, no match for the gears that will make short work of it IF it ever happens to go through them. Don't give it another thought.

^^i agree^^

Forget about it, not worth the trouble.

 

[BILT4ME]

Personally, I would drain and flush until it's out. Otherwise it will end up in the front pinion bearing and could block oil flow. I've seen a bunch of crap kill differentials, although a plastic cap is not one of them.

It would bug me to no end to have it in there.

 

[revelario]

Personally, I would drain and flush until it's out. Otherwise it will end up in the front pinion bearing and could block oil flow. I've seen a bunch of crap kill differentials, although a plastic cap is not one of them.

It would bug me to no end to have it in there.

It’s already bugging me to no end. Spent the last couple hours flushing and draining trying to get it out. Tried feeling for it with a coat hanger too and no luck.

 

[clay763]

You could use a siphon pump to flush it out. Clean the bottom of your diff (so you don't introduce contaminants the might fall in), put a clean wide opening pan underneath it, prop it up so the fluid drains to one side. Put the intake of the siphon pump in the pan, and the other end in the filler hole, pump away until you see the cap fall out. You may need to top it up a bit just because some of the fluid will stay stuck in the siphon.

 

[BILT4ME]

It’s already bugging me to no end. Spent the last couple hours flushing and draining trying to get it out. Tried feeling for it with a coat hanger too and no luck.

You'll need to rotate the diff. If you have open diffs, it may be sitting on top of the gears in the carrier. It would float on gear oil.

Maybe use a lighter weight oil to flush because gear oil is so sticky. Or diesel or kerosene. I hate suggesting it, but maybe........

Maybe compressed air, maybe not. Could blow it up there for sure......

 

[flintknapper]

It’s already bugging me to no end. Spent the last couple hours flushing and draining trying to get it out. Tried feeling for it with a coat hanger too and no luck.

There are two trains of thought here:

1. It's soft plastic, IF it ever goes through the gears it CAN'T harm them, it will (over time) be crushed into tiny pieces. There aren't any passages for the particles to block, the rear gears and bearings are either submerged in (or pick up) heavy viscosity gear lube. Your front pinion bearing (at highway) speed will be rotating between 2,000-3,000 rpm (depending on road speed), nothing is going to stay in a bearing and the plastic can't cause wear on it.

2. It's a foreign object (even if benign) and on principle only...I don't want in there.

If you subscribe to thought #2 (nothing wrong with that) then by all means remove it. Drain the diff and use a bore-scope to locate the cap (if you're lucky). For all we know it's sitting in one of the axle tubes right now, could be anywhere. Once located...then you can formulate a way to retrieve it. After you retrieve it...have it mounted on a plaque because you will have spent a monumental amount of time trying to capture it.

And in all seriousness....I am not chastising or making fun of you. If you really can't stand the thought of it being in there, go get that sucker. But don't do it on the basis that it will harm anything if left alone.

 

[fjbj40]

That ain’t gonna flush out!
Only way is pull the diff, it would be different if the drain plug was directly on the bottom but it’s not, it’s gonna sit in the center for ever even if you flush a gallon of fluid through it.

 

[revelario]

That ain’t gonna flush out!
Only way is pull the diff, it would be different if the drain plug was directly on the bottom but it’s not, it’s gonna sit in the center for ever even if you flush a gallon of fluid through it.

That’s the same thing I was thinking as I was flushing yesterday and just looking at the diff. Looks like if it would need tons of pressure and a lot of luck for it to move from the bottom of the diff over to the drain plug exit.

 

[flintknapper]

That’s the same thing I was thinking as I was flushing yesterday and just looking at the diff. Looks like if it would need tons of pressure and a lot of luck for it to move from the bottom of the diff over to the drain plug exit.

There are also certain immutable laws at play : If you DIDN'T want it to come out.....it would. But since you DO...well you know the story.

 

[Heckraiser]

drain all the fluid, open the fill hole and the drain hole, blast compressed air into the fill hole and see if it comes out the drain hole? Kinda sounds like a fun game.

 

[ZackR]

As much as it would annoy me I'd "let it ride" for now and drain and fill the fluid again next weekend, perhaps it would be small particles by then.

 

[Railwelder93]

Let the diff purée it for a few weeks then flush

 

[udubfl]

Like OP, the cap fell in my rear diff. Was testing if I could tilt the bottle without doing the pump after one bottle and the cap came off the bottle. Dumb move for sure. Should have taken my time and just pumped it in. Oh well. Good lesson for me and hopefully for all others reading this.

Tried flushing it out one time but it didn’t work. The drain hole is too small to “just drain out” easily. The cap has to be perfectly positioned when coming out. I don’t have a scope or any method to even fishing it out. So, after one attempt, I’m going with option 1 from flipknapper. Let’s just let it ride and grind it down!

 

[CJF]

Paging @revelario

 

[leonard_nemoy]

I love these little pumps for filling the diff's and t-case.

Amazon product ASIN B01MTIKACZ