The other day I noticed I had a slow leak coming from the bottem of my differential cover from around the gasket. The leak is not that bad, sitting over night it drips about a 50 cent piece sized amount on the ground. I figured I might as well tackle this problem head on, so as soon as I noticed the dripping I went and bought the gear oil and gasket maker that I needed. I got the fill bolt off the diff. relatively easy, and to take the 10 bolts off the cover I used a Gator Grip, since at the time I couldnt find the right sized socket to fit it.
I got nine of the ten bolts loosened with no problem, but one of em' decided to be stubborn(the one that has the metal tag on it).. After a few yanks with the gator grip the bolt started to get slightly round. I stopped using that and went with a pair of vise grips, which only worsened the strippage..
I have no idea what to do now.. the bolt is basically as round as a dime now and I still have a slow leak... Anyone have any ideas on what to do??

-David

 

Take a ball peen hammer and hit it a few solid hits straight on top of whats left of the hex. Then find the closet socket with eight sides not 16 and drive it on the bolt. Then use a impact driver to finish loosening and pray.

 

You might also try a shape chisel and try to turn the bolt with that by hitting it at angle. Hit it with as much angle as you can. ~45 degrees.

 

Yep That works too.Just dont forget a few good raps to lossen er up.

 

Thanks guys, I'll see what I can do tomorrow. I'll let ya know if I have any success..

-Dave

 

Craftsman, as well as all the tool companies sell special sockets for stripped bolts (Snap-On calls them turbo sockets). If you cant find those pound a 12 point socket on there with a hammer and it should grip it good enough to get it out. Hopefully you have learned a lesson, gator-grips are for assembling furniture, not for working on cars!

-Jon

 

I just wanted to let you guys know that I finally got that dang bolt off today.
I'd been trying to use the cheapo sockets that I had, but all that that did was completely round the socket itself. I finally decided to break down and buy a high quality socket this afternoon. A 12mm socket was what I needed on what had been a 1/2 bolt. After pounding the socket on there real good the bolt cracked loose with just a bit of pressure on the wrench. I also came to the conclusion that the cover itself was rusted and thats where the leak was coming from. So now I gotta wait till tomorrow when the new cover comes in at the Ford garage. Well anyway, thanks guys for your help.
And believe me ford4ever, I learned my lesson...

-David