DodgenIt

Whats up all.
So I got my new front dif cover on yesterday, tightened everything down to proper torque specs, drove around for a few and went to check fluid level.. Dip stick is LOCKED in.
I could feel the allen starting to slip so I tried puttin some vice grips on the outer allen part.. No luck, even with the allen in the dip stick head, and wrench on the outside of the dip stick head, still had the allen give and now have a stripped allen hole in the dip stick head.
At first I thought, weld the allen to the dip stick, but its aluminum so no go there.

Im not worried about ruining the dip stick, Ill get another.
So Any thoughts as to how I can get it out would be greatly appeciated.

Doj Dewd

grind a the outer/opposite walls of the head to make big 'slot' and then insert an appropriate tool to try and spin it out with enough torque on it.

did you tighten it down with ft/lbs or in/lbs???

swpdnke

With the allen key in it and the vise grips on VERY tight, tap the handle of the vise grips with a hammer to see if it starts to spin or breaks loose, other than that i dont know what to tell you bud, I knew a guy who this same thing happened to and he ended up just buying another cover (but he over tightened it...alot!)

DodgenIt

Ugh. Yea I may have gone just a touch over 30 ft lbs, but only like 1-2 lbs max.
Boy I guess I will have to tighten up the wrench even more. All it was doin was slippin on the dip stick.
Alright, give er another try.
Thanks for the reply.

swpdnke

be shure to leave the allen key in so you dont crush the head!

Doj Dewd

[QUOTE=DodgenIt;2748072]Ugh. Yea I may have gone just a touch over 30 ft lbs, but only like 1-2 lbs max.
QUOTE]

well there's your problem. pretty sure you want to use in/lbs and not ft/lbs on the dipstick!!

Homestead

Anti seize the crap out of them when you put them back in and forget the torque value, just ever so slightly snug them up. Trust me, they won't leak because of the o-ring, I've been doing it this way for years.

Jeff

DodgenIt

AAAAHHHH!!!!! CRAP!
Thats totally it. Im screwed! its never gonna come out.
Its not like I really had to crank it either, it went to 30 Ft lb no problem.
He!!.
Well, I put 4 qts in it, I should be good on level dont ya think?

bariley

heat up the area around the dipstick with a torch, not to hot, it WILL melt

DodgenIt

Wouldnt heating it up make it expand though? Makin it harder to get loose?

WUnderwood

how about you take the cover off and drill it out, maybe that could be your last resort...

madhat

I've seen people weld a nut on to them to get it off. With out actually seeing it, I could be way off.

Nick02Ram

I've done the welding a nut trick, it works great...I'm not sure about this particular case, but I would think 30-35 ft lbs wouldn't be that bad to get off with an allen. If it starting to slip, take a punch and hammer the punch around the edges of the head, this will push the edgesin a little bit, restoring allen shape...doesn't always work, but worth a try. Or maybe an extrator depending on how deep the allen head is

Doj Dewd

don't know if you got it out yet . . . but i have another idea.

try grinding two opposite sides so they are parallel with each other. then take a pair of suitable vice-grips and clamp them on the flat sides you just made. clamp the grips as tight as you can, then try turning it counter-clockwise and out . . .

DodgenIt

Got it out!! Woo hoo!!!

I thought about welding something to it, But I only have a steel welder so that was out cause its aluminum. Which im sure is why it stripped so easily.
I didnt think about ginding two sides down but that would've worked even easier to help with what I did..
I just put the allen in the hole so as not to smash and mis shape it, then clamped some vice grips as hard as I could and it broke loose.
They had to be TIGHT too. Took all I had with both hands to get it to clamp cause it was just slippin around the head.

Thanks alot Swpdnke and everyone! Super stoked I got it, once again thanks for all the advice!!!