Sometime in the past, someone tried to remove my 12-bolt's drain plug and whatever was on the end (square? hex?) broke off. There's just a nub of something there. I have a bolt on my housing cover to fill it, that's not an issue. The problem is the old one weeps.

I want to remove it, and have checked threads about how to do it. There are various ideas like weld something on the remainder to grip it, and the heat will help loosen it. I have a dremel and lots of diamond tools to drill it out for an easy out. My question is, what if I try everything and can't get it out, leaving a gaping mangled plug remainder that I then can't seal well enough to run? Does trying to free a plug ever end in disaster?

If you're handy with the dremel, grab one of those hard disks and cut a slot in the nub so you can get a blade screwdriver in there and back it out. I've done that many times on rusted or stripped screws...dremel with disk should notch that in no time. Worth a shot...
( always eye protection with 30,000RPM dremel bits ;-)

Yup, got a dremel hard disc, used it yesterday to remove carrier bearing races :) I will give it a shot!

IF there is anything left sticking out, a little heat around the surrounding area and a pair of #410 Channellocks will get it out.
I'll guarantee it. :yes:

http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s228/deancall/Team/channel_lock_410.jpg

Heat like a heat gun, or heat like a rosette on my acetylene torch?

Heat like a heat gun, or heat like a rosette on my acetylene torch?

acetylene torch, a small flame will do it.

I've had the best luck using my MIG welder and welding a 3/8 bolt to the plug and using a 9/16 wrench to take them out. The plug is just mild steel. You won't need any diamond tools to cut it. Regular drill bits will cut it easy if you want to drill a hole in it for an ez out. If that doesn't work then stick a bolt in the hole and weld it.

What Freddy said... Weld a 3/8 bolt in, pull it out, your done..

OK, got it... finally. Did you ever see that Chris Rock skit about "How not to get your @$$ kicked by the police". One line in it, where a friend trys to talk some sense into a friend, says, "I wouldn't do that $h!t if I was you..." Well, about an hour into this major project, past the point of no return, that was ringing in my ears. This rear end was kicking my rear end.

It turns out that the little remaining nub on the plug was weld spatter from someone's previous attempt I didn't discover that until I had tried to grab it and them grinded it off a bit. It was a porous mess. So I ground a little place to start a drill through, thinking I would use an e-z-out. I drilled a 3/8" hole through and inserted the tool. The plug would budge. So I heated it with a propane torch. Nothing. So I dug out my acetylene torch and heated it. Nothing, not a move at all. So I grinded the remainder of stuff flush with the housing and drilled a 1/2" hole through. I took my dremel, and carefully cut the round hole into somewhat of a square. Then I took a 1/2" socket extension, and ground it to fit in the square in the plug. With a cheater on a ratchet handle, I finally broke it loose and it came out clean. I didn't hit the housing threads while grinding the hole square :noway:

Anyway, all done. But... that plug is a pipe thread, I hope, right? Cuz the face on the housing is a little buggered after all the attempts to pull the sword from the stone. If it's a screw thread for a special screw with a wide flange and gasket, I'm in trouble again.

Glad you got it out. Yes, it's tapered pipe thread.