Stupid Mechanic's Tricks/True Confessions 101

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MuseChaser

MuseChaser

Joined
Jul 22, 2018
Threads
10
Messages
204
Location
Central NYS
This is a VERY painful post to write. I've been wrenching at an admittedly low yet constant level for decades; oil/filter/fluid changes, belts, hoses, plugs/caps/wires, coils, water pumps, alternators, suspension work, some fuel line/intake and exhaust manifold work on old Volvos and VWs, and assisted in a full rebuild (pistons/rings/bearings) on an '82 Rabbit. I can follow directions, but am not a great problem solver/diagnostician and engines and transmissions scare me; basically, your average backyard mechanic who knows just enough to get in trouble once in a while.

A few days ago, I swapped the fluid on the AHC. Went great, felt like a million bucks.
A week or two before that, I tore the entire interior apart almost to try and fix the CD/DVD changer and repair the rotted rear sub. Successful on all counts, and didn't even break a single trim clip.

Sooo.. today, I figured I'd do something easy and change the front and rear diff and transfer case fluids.

Rear went fine.
Even though the undercarriage of our '05 LX470 is in great shape and as rust-free as I've seen on any car of the vintage, I discovered that the @#$@#$ bolts and fasteners are in much worse shape than the metal they're attached to. Got all eight off the front plastic guard, but discovered that a previous mechanic/owner had broken one of the tabs of the guard itself. No biggie.. can be glued/stiffened. Even with a lot of experience wrenching rusty cars, two of the three bolts holding the metal transfer case guard fooled me. They broke loose fine, and were almost all the way out, when the very tips broke off. Oh well.. the guard's off, the fluid's changed, and I've got the broken stubs drilled for later fun w/ EZOuts. I can live with that.

Here's where everything went major wrong, and it's all because I'm a stupid, blithering, @#$@#$ idiot. Front diff. Everything drained, ready to go. Put the drain plug back in.. the one with the magnet. Thing is, my mind was thinking about something else and for reasons only known to those dumber than I (should such creatures actually exist), I decided that the proper place for the drain plug (with the magnet) was the fill hole. You know.. first off, first on... right? (I know... never... but hey... if you're gonna be stupid, might as well be REALLY stupid). Threaded in fine, snugged it down by hand, got out the torque wrench ('cause I wanna do everything right, right?), set it for 35 fp, and started gently cranking. Gee... seems to be taking a lot of turns.. not getting snug fast, but lots of drag... back it out a few turns just to make sure... yep, it's threaded correctly.. probably just the crush washer doing its thing..keep going... well, sure feels tight now, but the wrench hasn't registeredd 35 fp yet... well, it's a cheap Harbor Freight wrench... that's good enough, better stop.

Then, next step..fill the diff w/ nice clean awesome Royal Purple 75W90 MaxGear... wait.. can't fill it.. fill hole's plugged!! Drain is open!!!!!

Ok.. we all make mistakes.. I won't tell anyone.. just get that drain plug outta the fill hole, and all will be fine. Anyone see where this going?

Just in case the obvious ain't obvious enough, the magnet in the plug was what was causing the premature resistance.. 'twas wedging itself in the netherworlds of the diff. When I took the drain plug out of the fill hole, the magnet was MIA. Careful probing with my pinky located it, and an unfolded paper clip confirmed the location by magnetic clues, but no amount of fiddling w/ the paper clip, dental picks, my pinky, or gentle encouraging garage vocabulary over a period of a few hours was able to dislodge it. It is now safe and sound inside my front diff.

Sooooo... now what? I don't have the skills (at least, not to my knowledge) to figure out how to remove and open the differential. I can't drive the car.. heck, I'm afraid to have it towed thinking that any motion will cause that magnet to eat my front diff.

Feel free to hurl insults, epithets, and cast aspersions re/ my non-human genetic makeup. I've already done that.. so you might as well join in. Afterwards, if anyone has any ideas how to salvage this incredibly ridiculous self-inflicted situation, PLEASE speak up.

Gotta give me points for originality... pretty sure this hasn't been done before.
 
Where is the magnet stuck? If it's stuck to the ring gear or carrier, then I agree--remove it before driving. If it happened to fall down and is stuck to the housing somewhere, then you're probably fine to leave it alone. As long as it isn't endangering something that will move....
 
go get some dental picks (the long "real" ones not the new plastic ones with floss and stay at it...walking away for a while helps sometimes. You will get it out...and you didn't say...but are you trying to get it out of the "fill" hole, or the "drain" hole...might be easier to pull it down to the drain hole if you can see it...rather that try to pull it up.

You can get the dental picks at most drug stores if you don't have a dentist for a friend...hemostats are your friend too...handy to have around in these situations.

Keep us posted and good luck...
 
Get a boroscope and see where exactly the magnet is, if it's stuck to the side of the differential case then it's probably not gonna move to destroy the gears. Still, i wouldn't feel comfortable having it there. Gotta get a clothes hanger and try to scoot it up slowly and slowly until it gets near the hole that you can grab out with some needle nose.
 
Brutalk said:
If you get a bigger magnet, you might be able to suck it out with that. You just need to get more magnetic force than what is holding the magnet to the metal.
Click to expand...

I like this idea, just don't get another magnet stuck in there. :rofl: Let us know how you end up getting it out (because you will be able to get it out).
 
I agree with @WaHoo, walk away for a moment and lower your shoulders. Its amazing how much just five minutes away and not laying in a crunched position will help your mental state.

Would you be able to grab it with a pair of curved nose pliers?
181-8886CV_1.jpg
 
You guys are WAY too kind.. I have a full set of real stainless steel dental picks, and gave them the ol' college try. I can see and feel the magnet.. confirmed its location by paper clip/feel and by mirror. Unfortunately, it's not as simple as it just falling off and magnetically attaching itself to the housing or a gear; it's DRIVEN into its current strategically wedged position w/ a torque wrench. If you're looking at the diff housing/fill hole straight on from the passenger side (90 degrees to the length of the car.. like you're looking in from the passenger wheel well), the magnet is located at about 2 o'clock, and it feels like it's wedged between the housing and a gear. Can't dislodge it. Once or twice, I thought I felt it rotate a bit, but that could have been wishful thinking. I can't imagine a magnet of any kind being strong enough to overcome the mechanical force holding it in place. I also have no idea what is really inside a differential.. I'm hoping it's all really, really hard metal stuff, and that poking around w/ dental picks and latching onto stuff and pulling really hard with a paper clip can't damage anything.

I've given up for the day, and am on my second serving of hop-infused self-medication. PLEASE keep the ideas coming. Tomorrow is another day, and I'll renew the assault then. Thanks again for the kindness. My soul is bruised.
 
MuseChaser said:
I can't imagine a magnet of any kind being strong enough to overcome the mechanical force holding it in place.
Click to expand...

You have clearly never "played" with a rare earth magnet...it will take your fingers off if you aren't careful...

One thing to be careful of...magnets can be soft/brittle sometimes...not to make your situation any worse...but don't break the magnet in the differential. I might have been playing with 2 hard drive magnets and when they hit...they shattered...into many smaller, very sharp, very magnetic pieces that went everywhere there was an attraction...cool, fun to watch, but a nightmare to clean up and not leave blood everywhere...
 
well, I can empathize. I once had to deal with a piece of wood that fell in the cylinder of my thumper. Was able to remove it after quite a bit of trial and error with the help of a borescope, lots of trying to get it to move this way and that way and then picking it up just right, but admittedly that was different than your situation. You can buy a borescope for something like $20 now, may be worth it. If it's really wedged in there, try a strong metal hook of some sort maybe? Or even pass a strap behind it if there is room and then pull? With patience one can usually end up getting tools positioned just right, even it takes 50 tries.
It's all good. Worst case, you learn how to take a diff apart. Useful skill to have!
 
Okay maybe I'm missing something but the magnets inside of transmissions and differentials (especially differentials) will disintegrate into a very fine powder if enough force is applied. A different is enough force by the way. There is nothing in your differential that will be hurt by this magnet. I used to hit them with hammers when I was a little kid cuz that is what little kids do. I'm not saying that because you can drive like that a great distance but having had a VW Rabbit 5spd with a makeshift magnet drain plug disintegrate on me I don't even know how long I drive it that way. Never hurt anything. But you should be able to put it on a truck and take it somewhere to have it removed. If you can't get it out yourself.
 
How many hours are you willing to spend on trying to get the magnet out with a dental pick? Drop the front driveshaft, remove the ring bolts on the pumkin and pull the front diff.
If you STILL can't get to the magnet, (since it's lodged between your housing and diff/ring/pinion ) you might have to pull the ring gear, at which point 'might as well' put in a locker?
Sorry to hear about your difficulties, hope you get it sorted
 
jay3253 said:
Okay maybe I'm missing something but the magnets inside of transmissions and differentials (especially differentials) will disintegrate into a very fine powder if enough force is applied. A different is enough force by the way. There is nothing in your differential that will be hurt by this magnet. I used to hit them with hammers when I was a little kid cuz that is what little kids do. I'm not saying that because you can drive like that a great distance but having had a VW Rabbit 5spd with a makeshift magnet drain plug disintegrate on me I don't even know how long I drive it that way. Never hurt anything. But you should be able to put it on a truck and take it somewhere to have it removed. If you can't get it out yourself.
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Man, I can't TELL you how much I was hoping someone would say that. On the other hand, I'm going to consider it a last resort after attacking the problem tomorrow.
 
Nick T said:
How many hours are you willing to spend on trying to get the magnet out with a dental pick? Drop the front driveshaft, remove the ring bolts on the pumkin and pull the front diff.
If you STILL can't get to the magnet, (since it's lodged between your housing and diff/ring/pinion ) you might have to pull the ring gear, at which point 'might as well' put in a locker?
Sorry to hear about your difficulties, hope you get it sorted
Click to expand...

In digging around some pictures scattered around the internet (and here), I sort of have an inkling that the front diff cover can be removed without dropping the entire diff out of the truck. I haven't had my hands on this truck yet, so it's just a theory.

Any truth to my theory? If so, judging by the location of the fill plug, i think the magnet would be quite easy to get out with the cover off and full access to the issue.
 
What about some sort of retractable pliers or probe. If you can find one of the right size you might be able to hold it.
Also, if you want to try the magnet option, harbor freight has a telescopic magnet (to catch nut and bolts) that is pretty strong.
 
@MontyAndCruiser,
You are actually correct, there is a front diff cover. Not sure if you have enough clearance to remove the the cover completely to gain access. Much easier then dropping the whole diff tho
 
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