Decided to change the oil and filter on my 99 Timberwolf today, for the first time since I've owned it. When I took possession of it I checked the oil, it was full, looked a little darkened, but still had some life left to it. My wife and I (mostly my wife on this machine, she puts around on it on the trails, I give it hell when I'm on it lol) have since put about 8 hours of ride time on it at most, but I already knew I wanted to change it, just seemed like a good time to do it since I had already gotten a new filter and the oil.

I'm no stranger to oil changes mind you, but I figured it was worth looking up a manual real quick on line to see if there was anything special I needed to know about changing the oil on these guys, and I'm kind of glad I did because I was completely unaware of the oil strainer drain plug on the LH side of the casing. Would have never even seen it because you have to remove the left foot peg and part of the front drive shaft cover to even see it, much less put a socket on it... but I digress...

Here's where the problem started. I went straight for the main drain plug on the bottom, takes hex key (allen wrench). I nearly twisted off and broken 2 of them trying to get the thing to come loose. It almost seems like it's been JB welded in there! So I figured the next best thing was to try and remove the oil strainer drain plug, it's down low, maybe most of the oil would come out after removing it. Well, same thing... seized up solid, would NOT budge...

So at this point I'm thinking I'm screwed, no way to drain the oil...

Then I remember I had this little 12v pump, suppose to be a fuel pump, but it's very low pressure and flow rate. I wasn't using it for anything, figured I had nothing to loose but the pump which was already just collecting dust in the garage. Put a piece of hose on either end, slid the suction end down into the hole for the dip stick, and powered the pump up with a 12v drill battery. Low and behold, the old oil started pumping out! Took a little while with the low flow rate of the pump, but it seems to get every bit of it out for the most part. I tried moving the hose in and out, twisting and probing inside the crankcase through the dipstick hole to make sure I wasn't missing the low spot in the crank case, but judging by the length of hose I had pushing down into it, I believe I got all the way down and got it all sucked out, as much as would come out via a drain plug anyhow.

After changing the filter (which was in DESPERATE need of changing... can tell the previous owner neglected it a few times...) it took nearly 2 full quarts to fill out back up on the stick, so judging by what I can find online for the capacity, I'd say I got it pretty well drained.


Long story short, is there any tricks to getting the stuck plugs free? Or am I stuck using the pump from hear on out? I mean the electric pump really isn't that big of an inconvenience, it's actually a little cleaner because I can pump the oil right into a container lol. But it would be nice to be able to remove the plug...

 

Once you drain out the oil, you can then heat up the area around the drain plug then try to break it loose. If it helps get a hex key socket with a long breaker bar for some help.