Pipe Plug, rounded off

Gary Mitchell

Well-known Member
While trying to drain all the Hy-Tran out of my Farmall 340 I ran into a plug with a rounded off head. It's the middle one that points forward instead of down so I can't get a pipe wrench or big pliers on it. I thought about heating the cast where the plug screws in but I'm afraid of an internal fire. It looks like chisel and big hammer unless someone has a better idea. With my arthritis and COPD this may not be fun. gm
 
Heat the PLUG red hot a couple of times, allowing for complete cooling in between.

While it sounds a bit risky, it's been done successfully many, many times.

I wouldn't do it, though, if any diesel fuel or gasoline or any other solvent has been used in cleaning the inside of the case.
 
take a grinder and make it square again - just a bit smaller . If that dont work weld a 1/2 inch nut onto it-- between the welding and something to put a wrench on it will come out! good luck-Roy
 
Heat the plug rather than the casting. It works. Yes, there's a risk of fire, but it's the only way you're going to get it out without doing serious damage to the casting. Get your Vise Grip or pipe wrench adjusted in advance and set it close at hand. Heat the plug cherry red with an acetylene torch, then immediately try to unscrew it. If it's still stuck, add mo' heat.
 
If you have an 'air chisel', sharpen one of the bits, turn down the air pressure and apply it to an 'edge' - enough to engage, but not enough to shear off. Done it twice and it works. HTH
 
12 inch vise grips and rap it with a hammer to get started, may have to use extra tools to get it super tight. Replace plug when out, been there with plugs on the Farmalls way too often. Small pipe wrench also works.
 
(quoted from post at 19:54:04 06/09/19) While trying to drain all the Hy-Tran out of my Farmall 340 I ran into a plug with a rounded off head. It's the middle one that points forward instead of down so I can't get a pipe wrench or big pliers on it. I thought about heating the cast where the plug screws in but I'm afraid of an internal fire. It looks like chisel and big hammer unless someone has a better idea. With my arthritis and COPD this may not be fun. gm

Clean it up good and look for a square hole in the center, I think it is 5/16
 
Where it is there's no room for a pipe wrench or water-pump pliers and it's a rounded off 3/8 or 1/2" head. There isn't even room to put a nut around it and it's too tight to drill straight. gm
 
This thread is a little old but I will comment anyway. I would like to give you an A for effort DW, but applying JB Weld to this problem is nothing but wasted effort. The tensile strength of JB weld is 3950psi. In general the holding strength of JB weld depends a lot on the surface area of the two parts that fit well together. In this case where you suggest applying it to hold an Allen wrench or whatever to this plug to remove it I am going to say you will be lucky to get a tenth of a square inch actually bonding. The tensile strength I would guess is quite a bit higher than it bonding strength per square inch. On weld rod the first 2 numbers in its designation is the tensile strength x1000, normally 60 or 70. So by that you can see the ...weld... in the name JB Weld is for not in this case. Granted the adherence strength of a metal weld is some lower than the 60 or 70K, but it is still way higher than the JB. Don?t get me wrong JB weld has fixed many things for me and saved me some dollars. But in this case save it for a less futile task. Hopefully by now the OP has gotten the plug out, refilled and is on to happy tractoring.
 
Got it! Thank god for sharp drill bits! gm
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