Outer Limits 4x4 Board

Ok first, feel free to throw sh!t if this sounds blinding obvious to anybody but I think it is a mistake anybody could make;

Back some time ago, right after I rolled the old girl, I thought I would check the level of the oil in the gear box. So I go hunting around for a plug that could be used for checking oil level and found one on the left hand side of the box up near the shifter levers. After pulling this plug out I noticed I no-longer had 5th gear.

I pulled the box apart today and my advice is DON'T USE THIS PLUG, it isn't for putting oil in, but for holding an arm/linkage onto the side of the box. Found this arm sitting in the bottom of the box but to get there it took a short trip though some teeth ( found approx. 1/8 of a wheel MIA and nowhere to be seen).





For everyone that wonders like me who actually built the box-

Looks like a Daihatsu job, Their little sign is stamped onto everything from the case to the actual gears.

I've read somewhere before of people undoing that same "plug" on a Rocky or Feroza to check their oil and finding the same problem!!

I did the same thing! Pulled out that plug looking for a place to put some oil in and no 5th.
Stupidly, we were at some place called Gingers Creek on the oxley highway spending the night before heading back to Glouster via the bush. Whoops.
The bolt on mine had some metal wrapped around it so you had to fold back the metal to undo it. Thinking back, the bit of metal around it should have served enough warning not to undo the bloody thing, especially mid way through a trip!
Live and learn I spose.

Next hint... if changing the oil in the Xfer case be VERY careful with the filler plug... its threaded into alloy that gets crumbly.

I changed mine ages ago and the thread came out with the plug... whoops. I fixed it by stripping all the remaining thread and glueing the plug in there with silastic sealant.

It works.

The bolt on mine had some metal wrapped around it so you had to fold back the metal to undo it. Thinking back, the bit of metal around it should have served enough warning not to undo the bloody thing



Hmmmm, I wonder why its there. My gearbox sports a large painted notice with arrow on the left side, warning not to undo this bolt, not the oil filler.

Tasrocky wrote:DON'T USE THIS PLUG, it isn't for putting oil in, but for holding an arm/linkage onto the side of the box.

Holy crap!
Are we talking about an (Australian) Rocky here.

If so, My first 4x4 was an 84 Rocky and if my memory isnt wrong that was a four speed! This is going back a few years now even before the Feroza, and I never thought anything of it.

Rod

Sorry guys but as a mechanic and a second rocky owner all i can say is "DOH"
i know the plug you are talking about and i has a metal safety tab and says do not fill so please take more care when doing diy on cars as it can be very costly
also silastic is not a good idea but perhaps a helicoil (thread insert) would be alot better

Have seen that done before, i even had some clown telling me that you were sposed to check the hole with the anti tamper bit on it (apparently the anti-tamper was to stop the fill plug coming un-done ). I think he got offended when i told him i was wrong, then backed up with the fact that i am a mechanic and he was a school kid.
Layto....

rOd wrote:

Tasrocky wrote:DON'T USE THIS PLUG, it isn't for putting oil in, but for holding an arm/linkage onto the side of the box.

Holy crap!
Are we talking about an (Australian) Rocky here.

If so, My first 4x4 was an 84 Rocky and if my memory isnt wrong that was a four speed! This is going back a few years now even before the Feroza, and I never thought anything of it.

Rod

Yes an Aus Rocky, And an '84 model too.

The bloody thing will be painted red once the box is back together.