brass drain plug in dana 44 rear end
 

My Dana 44 has a brass drain plug in it. Apparently, sometime in the last century, when I had it in to a dealer to replace seals that were linking, they used that in place of the original. I didn't know until some time in this century.

Having the unit currently on a bench with the batwing back on and filled, there is a slight leak at the plug.

Before I just tighten it a little more which I'm hesitant to do too much in a cast aluminum shell, I would be interested to know if anyone else had the original plug replaced with brass - or similarly, put a drain hole in and used a brass plug there? If so, was there any issue with leaks?

One option I'm considering is to just put a wrap of teflon tape on it, keeping it back enough so there's no chance any teflon would make it into the unit. Realistically, though, I wouldn't think shred or two of teflon would be an issue given that the thing munched up some pieces of clutch pack retainers without much trouble.

I also have a brass drain plug on my Dana 44, but it doesn't leak though. I would wrap some teflon tape on the brass plug and forget about it. Just don't wrap past the last 2-3 threads on the end of the plug.

Richard

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...af533e2dfb.jpg

Thread sealant, teflon tape or some other type of sealant will work. Don't over think this. It's just a drain plug in a differential.

You got that right. Last evening before I started this thread I did put a wrench on it and tapped it with a hammer a couple times. This evening when I got home from work I checked it - dry as a bone - the leak, I mean, not the differential. I'm not taking the plug back out.

Thanks guys,

I put a drain plug in mine last year. I had an oil pan drain plug lying around and also the correct tap for thread size. Drilled and tapped. Put a drop of thread sealant on plug and tightened 'er up. Hasn't leaked.

Your never going to service the rear again? OR, you would rather fight it under the car.

It's on the bench. Take it out, put some dope on it, maybe a new plug, and fix it on the bench. You can thank me later.;)

:iagree:

and x3 on pipe dope

Well, probably the smart move. Then again, it probably had 70k on it before it was first drained. And back then it was a daily driver. It'll probably take me 20 years to put that on it again. And at 80 I think it'll be one of my 50+year old kids dealing with it. Just like it's my 61 year old brother and me dealing with my 90 year old father's '32 Ford Roadster.

OK, I'm just sitting here playing solitaire anyway. So even though it's almost 10 PM I'm going down in the basement to pull that plug. :thumbs:

:leaving:

Just to wrap up
 

First I put thread sealer on the brass plug while on the bench. No leak. Then I mounted the diff back into the car. Then I needed some other stuff from Eckler's. So I decided to buy the proper aluminum replacement plug for $13 and pay the ridiculous $10 shipping since I could at least spread that out over about $20 worth of other stuff. So a 10"x8"x4" box arrived carrying all of 4 ounces of items which could have dropped into a priority mail envelope and shipped for $3. I pulled the brass plug, put pipe thread on the aluminum plug and put it in. Hopefully I will never take it out again. Probably a good bet as since I first got the car back on the road after redoing all the brakes 3 years ago it hasn't seen 100 miles total driving. And I ain't getting any younger. :nopity