My transfer case drain plug and had been mauled at some time in the past and the square drive was damaged such that removal was impossible. However, I was able to drill it out and use an extractor to remove the plug. There was a magnet on the old plug that is now somewhere in the transfer case. I soon found out that it jammed the gears. I managed to turn the gears back and forth to the point that the jam cleared, but I really want to remove that magnet from the case. Without disassembling the case, what do you recommend?
Thanks!
You might get lucky using some long forceps.
If you had a bore scope and see the magnet you could try to use a torch to heat it to above ~180 degrees. It will loose it’s magnetic properties at that temperature. Then you can use another magnet on a bendable wire to perhaps fish it out. Seems like a long shot to me. If nothing else, could be an interesting science project.
A stronger magnet.
Tester
Better have a fire extinguisher handy if you do that, using a flame into a transfer case that has everything covered in oil, doesn’t sound like a good idea to me.
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If you Google “Flexible Claw” maybe you’ll find something.
It’s a magnet. It’s stuck to something. You can only see through a tiny hole. I’m all for fishing expeditions but this one seems like less chance than winning the lottery. Sometimes, you just have to bite the bullet. It’s already shown the kind of damage it could do if left in there. I’d certainly try fishing it out but wouldn’t be too optimistic at this point…