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magnetic drain plugs

6K views 18 replies 9 participants last post by  mogish 
#1 ·
with all the discussion on what happens when "good hubs go bad", i have to wonder why i have not heard of any use of magnetic drain plugs. i think they would go a long way in identifying a hub that was making metal, maybe give the owner a chance to make a repair before more damage is done. of course the diffs, trans and overdrive should have them too. ill bet if someone were to make these, they might sell a bunch .
 
#4 ·
I don't think they're standard across the whole model line, but they are available to purchase separately from MB and probably elsewhere as well.
I bought a set for my portals, transmission and engine oil pan.
 
#5 ·
Although magnetic plugs are great, and I want them (and don't have them), for years on the farm we used the magnetic cow pills. For those of you unfamiliar with them, these are cigar shaped magnets, about three inches long and about half an inch in diameter that you feed to cows. Yes, really. Cows, you see, especially those at old farms, suck up nails, fence staples and odd bits of wire while browsing. Needless to say, with four stomachs, it makes them feel bad. Although I never got the nack, my father and grandfather were really good at telling when a cow needed the pill. Down it went, the cow was kept in the barn (we field fed our dairy herd) for a while, and eventually the pill and what seemed like a pound of metal crap came out. Not nice in the recovery phase, but that's dairy farming. Anyway, we also used these on the tractors and other machinery before fluid changes. About three or four operating hours before a fluid change, stick said magnet on the drain plug, apply some duct tape so it doesn't roll away, and when it is time to drain, one finds a nice collection of metal fuzz on the end of the plug if all is well. If not, one gets chucks and then trys to fit in a tear down in between all the other stuff that's going on that you don't have time for.

Anyway, I'm not sure how many of you have dairy farm supply places around, but the method is the same with a regular magnet. I'd suggest the rare earth magnets as they are getting cheap on line and come in coin sizes. Not as easy as magnetized plugs, but effective.
 
#8 ·
For anyone that's interested, I had ordered the following magnetic drain plugs for my mog (1990 U1300L with OM366A):

4 pcs. Magnetic Drain Plugs (M14 x 1.5) P/N A 001 997 54 30 for the portal housings
5 pcs. Magnetic Drain Plugs (M24 x 1.5) P/N A 000 997 64 32 for the 2 Diffs, 2 for the Transmission and one for the engine oil pan.

Total cost was 31 Euros for the lot.
 
#14 ·
Can you check to see the size of non-magnetic plug that is in there now? I suspect, the drain/fill plug sizes may be the same across the board. The EPC gives different part numbers for these plugs, but doesn't provide the sizes.
 
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