I have a newly acquired 1998 Wolverine that a buddy sold me for a great buy. However once I brought it home and attempted to drain the oil for an oil change, I soon realized that the drain plug bolt was rounded completely off. It is almost impossible to get vise-grips or a pipe wrench in there to remove the plug. I have allied generous amounts of penetrating spray to help loosen the plug. However no luck.

My question for you guys is, how do I remove this plug without taking it to Yamaha? Any ideas will be greatly appreciated!! Thanks

 

you can:
1) Take a cutting wheel or grinder and make new flats on the bolt head that will allow you to grip it with a wrench

2) Drill the plug out and use an easy out

3) There are special sockets available that are designed to grip rounded off bolts. They have teeth on them that grip the rounded head as you turn. I use them at work on occasion with moderate success.

Hope any of this helps.

 

Sometimes you can find a socket which is still a tight fit, and lightly hammer it on the head of the bolt, and then use the rachet to get it off. The drain plug is metric, and there are times when an sae inch socket will be just a hair smaller and works great for this. Of course, no matter what you do, the bolt needs to be tossed when you get it out, so maybe go buy the new one now, so you know what size socket is supposed to fit , and then you know which size you can try to hammer on.
The idea of those special sockets from sears is a good idea , but they arent cheap, especially if you only need it for one bolt. I think they are sold in a set.
Dont take this the wrong way...but make sure youre loosening it ,in the right direction. Sometimes when its upside down, its easy to go the wrong way and tighten it.