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DONT DO THIS ON AN LS!! Read the excellent feedback below. UGH.
After breaking my Puller and my having my fancy grease gun attachment fail I decided to go old school and grab a piece of bread, all thread and a BF Hammer.
<2 Min and BINGO!!
Glad that worked for you, but I'd make sure you didn't partially or fully press out the freeze plug in the end of the crank that resides in the same hole. If you disturbed it with the hammering you had to do it'll likely leak pretty bad...
The crank in the video you posted doesn't appear to have a freeze plug
Last edited by wscott62893; Apr 12, 2019 at 11:27 AM.
This is a method I would advise against doing on any LS engine. Not saying it won't work.. but as stated above, it could cause an oil leak if you push the plug too far in the end of the crank.
Glad that worked for you, but I'd make sure you didn't partially or fully press out the freeze plug in the end of the crank that resides in the same hole. If you disturbed it with the hammering you had to do it'll likely leak pretty bad...
The crank in the video you posted doesn't appear to have a freeze plug
Crap. Decided to post pics. Again I appreciate the feedback. Yes it does have a freeze plug. It appears that I drove it back in approx 1/8”. Is this too much? Do I need to replace? There does not appear to be any leaks but it obviously isn’t under pressure.
Should you replace it? Well....you feeling lucky today?
You are obviously aware of how much work it is to get access to the plug. It'll be much easier to replace it now and have piece of mind then have it leak 100 miles into your clutch break-in. You won't be certain that it isn't gonna leak until you start the car up and run it a bit. Unfortunately....kind of a crap shoot.
Geesh. Consulted my manual. Apparently the depth is supposed to be 1.228”-1.24” from the face of the crankshaft to the edge of the plug. Mine is 1.170 all the way around from the inside lip that’s easiest to get a solid measurement. So doing a little math it looks like I’m .205” > max. UGH.
Drove 1.5 hr round trip to get the only plug in the Tulsa area. Felt pretty fortunate to find one In stock.
Emptied oil. Coated a drill bit in Vaseline and put in just small enough hole for my puller hook end to fit through. Put my finger Over the hole and blew the cavity out of shavings. Pulled the stubborn plug. There was minimal amount of shavings behind the plug. Cleaned out remaining bits. Cleaned the bore with brake cleaner dampened rag.
Coated edge of plug in 242. Tried as much as possible to get the plug in straight and to the correct depth. It’s very challenging to get it dead nuts. I was a touch deep .010 but based off the amount of bore that was behind I’m not worried.
Sweet Fancy Moses I pray that it is sealed. This clutch change sucks a big one. Thank goodness I for my lift.
Wow, nice work! Sounds like you did about as good of a job that you could do with the crank inside the block...kudos to you! I’m sure it’ll seal up fine. I lived through the joy of a clutch swap over the Winter. I feel your pain!
Pilot Bearing removal
I’m sure it’ll seal up fine. I lived through the joy of a clutch swap over the Winter. I feel your pain!