Corvair Forum

I posted this reply in another post and thought it might be more helpful as a DIY topic.

One of the reasons the transaxle lube is rarely changed (which leads to expensive repairs) is because there is no drain. Of course there are a number of vehicles with no drains on transmissions and axles.

The fact is it is fairly easy and fast to pump out a transaxle with some inexpensive parts. Thanks to sink drains plugging up a number of companies sell little pumps that run off a simple electric hand drill to empty a sink of water, oil, and grease. With a little creativity at the hardware store you can use a pump, drill, some garden hose, clamps, vinyl tubing to make a rig that will pump all the gear oil out of a transaxle in under a minute!!! I've done it a few times - easy peazy!!

See one pump from Home Depot http://www.homedepot.com/p/Everbilt-300 ... lsrc=aw.ds" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Thanks for the tip. I'll get to try it out here in a couple of weeks

A small vinyl hose taped to a wet or dry shop vac hose works real fast.

64powerglide wrote:A small vinyl hose taped to a wet or dry shop vac hose works real fast.

Yes it does, but beware that the gear oil fumes are flammable and shop vacs. are not rated to safely handle flammable fumes. Or as I like to say "What could possibly go wrong".

Harbor freight sells a multi use transfer pump that works great for pumping fluid out of the transaxle. It's a hand pump but easy to use, cheap, and has everything needed for the job. Can't beat that for 7 bucks.

thewolfe wrote:Harbor freight sells a multi use transfer pump that works great for pumping fluid out of the transaxle. It's a hand pump but easy to use, cheap, and has everything needed for the job. Can't beat that for 7 bucks.

Part # or link????

http://www.harborfreight.com/multi-use- ... 66418.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I used this to drain my transaxle and it worked great. I also used it to change the transmission fluid in my wrx since there is no drain plug on that either.

I have the same hand pump, its like $4 with a coupon, also some of the early trans and diffs have a drain plug, you can also drill/Tap a drain plug when you have the trans axle out if yours does not have one.

What is the easiest way to put the fluid back in?

Jiffy Lube. Really, if you got a pump to remove it just pump the new back in.

These things always come in handy so instead of throwing them into the recycle bin I always keep one or two around .
I used one with a small hose attached to pump the fluid out of my supercharger on the GS and it comes in handy to suck old fluid out of the master cylinder too . It'd probably take too long on a diff though

Just curious. For all of you that have used pumps to get the oil out of your transmission and final drive, how much did you get out? I've done this several times and have never gotten much more than three quarts out. (The 65 service manual says the combined capacity is a bit over a gallon.)

MCataldo wrote:Just curious. For all of you that have used pumps to get the oil out of your transmission and final drive, how much did you get out? I've done this several times and have never gotten much more than three quarts out. (The 65 service manual says the combined capacity is a bit over a gallon.)

That's not unusual. Adding 3 fresh quarts of oil is still far better then having 100% 50-year old lube. If you really worried about it you could do the same drain procedure after a summer of driving and then only a small percentage of old oil would not have been changed.

joemonza wrote:What is the easiest way to put the fluid back in?

http://www.amazon.com/Shoreline-Marine- ... +lube+pump


These pumps work well too.

I'm a big fan of "drill, tap, and plug using " 1/8 Pipe Thread, flush-fit pipe plugs.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1-8-MIP-Male-NP ... 2042127483

i do this a different way, i took a piece 3/8-1/2 inch hard line, bent it into a u shape, slid it though the fill plug. Then took compressed air, and blew into the differencial. Using a rag to seal the fill hole, this creates a high preasure zone inside the rear diff, which then pushes the fluid out via the hard brake hose