impact wrench not enough?? aaaccckkk!! what now??
 

I still have a long list of maintenance issues to take care of ... especially the brake master cylinder and power steering rack on my 98 legacy ... but that will wait for another day...

thought I'd finally get under the car and change out the MT oil (which is a bit low) and the rear diff fluid...

so I bought the adapter for the rear diff (even though the plug is already a bit rounded due the Subaru mechanic who took "care" of the car since new) and started with the top plug... not even with a 450Nm impact gun could I get the top plug off (yes I'm going in the correct direction;) do I need a stronger impact gun? The one I have was for motorcycle suspension work not for automotive...

any help would be appreciated...

so I move to the front and use the impact with a 21mm socket up front and again no go... the bolt/nut whatever is also a little rounded by the previous mechanic. Also tried breaker bar with a hammer and no luck.

I'm gonna buy some new plugs before I do anything else but just need advice as to how to get the bloody things undone!

and then I noticed that my oil is leaking a bit from the oil plug (I rushed that one and after having it undone already I realized I should have waited to buy a new plug and crush ring) ... again the previous Subaru mechanic buggered it up... hence the reason I do everything myself - just sucks doing things when they're already buggered!

any advice would be greatly appreciated - the car is at 300,000 km and runs beautiful otherwise :thumb:

I search everything else but not this???? :wonder:

I guess I panicked a bit... a quick search revealed some ideas that I'll try next time...

namely heat/cold, breaker bar and jack, and possibly impact wrench again with the 13mm plug adapter...

http://www.subaruforester.org/vbulle...ck-help-81205/

bunch of ideas above...

blow torch to get it warm, then a 24inch breaker bar if you can get the car up high enough!

I think last time I had one stuck I used the breaker bar and scaffold pole (car in the air on a 4 post ramp).

Usually the scaffold pole is only reserved for Honda D16 crank pulleys. :D

okay... now you guys got me scared!! :eek:

Its not a full length pole LOL

Its about 5ft long.....need a very strong breaker bar, have snapped a few in the past. :o

I used to work construction so I know what a bloody scaffold pole is!!! bejeezs now I am really scared!!! what the heck! I got only a dinky 50cm breaker bar... thinking this ain't gonna be enough :wonder:

A longer breaker bar will help. But sometimes sheer grunt is not the route, for the diff plug fit the breaker bar then addd pressure using a trolley jack. Just enough to put strain on the bar and leave for a while, go back add a bit more pressure. Have had to use constant pressure rather than grunt and strain.

I agree, I use a small bar and a trolley jack to apply more pressure without a 10 foot bar, the car supplies the pressure lol

gonna give it a go this upcoming weekend... gonna heat her up nice and good and use some rust stuff then get some leverage with a jack and breaker bar -will take my time and hopefully get her unstuck... gonna replace the plug as well which is rounded out....

should I be using heat on the transmission plug as well?? that one was tight too!

50cm bar won't have a prayer unless you have something else to give it extra leverage/force (jack, pole, whatever).

1 metre bar will usually do it....but in extreme cases may need to be extended a little more (hence the scaffold pole).

so its not only me that has a scaffold pole ready for use with my breaker bar then.:lol1:

so finally done... i got the diff plug, mt transmission plug and crankshaft bolt unstuck using a goliath torque wrench click type... 4 foot long, 1 inch drive, removable head, industrial type for working on lorries...

http://flic.kr/p/bqqugZ



some pics above... made it really easy :D