[Ford-ferguson] bobbing for drain plugs

[Chris Britton]

For those needing a good laugh!

Well, My new tranny fill plug/dipstick came in this weekend at CNH. My ford 
5000, up until this point.. just had the fill plug, sans dipstick. I knew it 
had probably broke off and had been laying at the bottom of the trans for 
decades.. but hadn't found it on previous services.

I got my buckets and new oil and headed tot he barn. had my tools layed 
out.. creeper.. etc. Tranny drain is about 12 quarts or so. A 5g bucket 
won't fit under very well, and let you manipulate the tools.. so i only had 
a 1g bucket. Plan was.. as I have always done, is to remove the plug, ( 
check for accumulated water .. just for curiosity, as the plug just starts 
to come loose), then hold the plug close, and when the bucket gets to 75%, 
start screwing it back in. That works -great- untill you drop the plug into 
the bucket!!! The plug is large too.. a thumb doesn't quite plug the hole.. 
though does dramatically slow it down.

So there I was.. laying on the creeper, propped up with back against right 
rear tire...left thumb stuck in tranny drain... UTF generously running down 
my arm, while my right arm and hand were frantically searching the drain 
pail for the blasted plug!.. Got the plug, and got the drain plugged back 
up... Bucket was at 99%... At this point.. creeper only has a couple drops 
on it.. ( my shirt was pretty good at sopping up the excess coming down my 
left arm... ).. floor is clean.. amazingly.. Had to drag the drain bucket 
over to my 'bulk' drain ( a 55g drum i keep to fill with drain fluids.. then 
haul to work to have picked up with other drain oil for free ). And then i 
repeat the process, sans dropping the blasted plug.

In my defense.. this is not a typical hex or square headed plug.. it's one 
of those inverted square heads.. like for a 1/2 socket or breaker bar 
drive.. not much to hold on to.

On the upside, i did find the remenant of the old dipstick.. right were I 
thought it was.. safely in the lowest part of the sump, intact, but bent in 
a semicircile with a few gear marks on it.. looks like it may hve been bent 
by a previous owner, and when tractor moved, a gear snatched it out of the 
cap, drug it down the side of the housing ( low clearance.. thus bending the 
post ), and then depositing it into the lowest part of the sump near the 
drain.

it took a telescoping magnet to find the end of the stick and fish it out.. 
but i do feel better that it is now out.. I wouldn't want it to ride the 
'train' and take any more trips thru the tranny. Previously, when i first 
got her, I looked at the gears.. I saw a couple with minor side chips.. but 
no teeth missing... nothing i havn't seen before on an antique tractor. I 
coulddn't find the dipstick then.. glad i found it now.

I figured a few of you may have needed the laugh.

On the upside.. the oil was nice and clean... good to know i have no water 
leaks.. and no metal bits came out.. that's always a plus.

After I got all the utf off, I primed and painted the new cap ( even has a 
FOMOCO ) logo on it.. nice.. And she now matches the rest of the tractor..

I kept thinking.. good thing this wasn't one of those 2" bung drains like a 
ford N has... I'd have never got the oil stopped trying to find that plug!!

Soundguy