for those with the '05 manual trany, how in the world you remove the drain plug? it seats behind the leaf spring and cannot be accessed with a socket OR an allen wrench...i tried to find a swivel allen but non avail...any other way?

 

ttt

anybody?

 

Uh, the '05 Differential Drain plug sits directly above the leaf spring.

Are you sure you aren't looking at that rather than the trans plug?

 

 

above the leaf spring, behind it, in between...what ever you wanna call it,,the spring is on the way...i even cut some of my 10mm allen wrench off and still couldnt get to it...not enough room to even turn the wrench if it fit...how do you take it off?

 

no, what he's saying is that's not the trans plug, it's the differential plug. You're looking at the wrong plug if you want the trans....

 

i was able to get a socket key in with the suspension hanging, it was still a pain, i later switched to a 2010 case, thats the rear dif drain not the trans

 

soory sorry sorry,,,yes..differential plug,,,i found this post but,,,there is no way that allen wrench fits in there...idk how,,,and if it did...how do you turn it.?

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c6-c...s-for-faq.html

 

the picture shows it fit, i know i have done it a couple times and it is tight

 

I use the hex on a breaker bar at first as it has a thinner top all together that the ratchet. I crack it and then use my hand. They don't have a swivel hex but they do have a swivel head ratchet that works too as that is what he is using in the pic I think.

 

ok, so for my '05 i think i got it figured it out. i went and looked at the differential drain plug while the car was on the ground and noticed the "loaded" leaf spring was NOT on the way as it was when the car was off the ground. i was able to easily slide in the hex wrench almost at a perpendicular angle - slightly skewed. So, now my plan is to just crack the plug open with the car on ground, then lift it up, level it, and drain and refill...
hopefully it will be that easy...i got REDLINE gear oil for it and REDLINE transmission fluid

 

Good tip for those with the 05s.

 

well, i was able to work on my car some last nite and got to change the tranny fluid and the differential fluid with Red-line products. I was able to follow the procedures from the members here and all worked out fine. My car with 34K miles BOTH fluids were black!!!

the tranny exchange was fairly simple. The differential was slightly harder bc of the drain plug....but as mentioned before i cracked it loose while on the ground with the hex wrench and a breaker bar about 12" long - then lifted it off the ground and unplugged it...

Did the figure 8 thing after fluid exchnge then checked for leaks - none present. The shifting now is definitely easier and less notchy.

my lessons learned?

1.raise the car high enough so that you can easily pump the fluid back in - maybe 24" high
2.buy about two cans of Brake cleaner so you can clean the undercarriage - mine was really dirty
3.have plenty of paper on the floor-cardboard works great too
4.open garage doors and windows for proper ventilation - it started to rain and had to close the door and almost suffocated with the fluid odor
5.buy 3 quarts of differential fluid in case you can't get to the bottom of the second quart. mine took almost two quarts but got me concerned there at the end
6.have an additional empty and clean plastic container for the differential fluid - the small bottles of Red line had a small top and could get the pump top to screw down on it, had to clean the tranny fluid gallon container and then pump it from there
7. either buy a quality pump or have a spare pump - my $8 pump came apart while pumping and almost ruined the whole thing, i was able to get the parts from inside of the container and put it back together