Help! Stripped Torx Heads on Spicer

Hi all,

The locker in my 6 speed Spicer has failed, so tonight I pulled it off to begin repairing it.

Removed all the Torx bolts around the casing, except for two which seemed to be seized. I assume they are cross threaded, because they haven’t been in there long enough to seize. I added some penetrating oil and continued to try and get them out... nothing. The torx head ended up completely rounded out. So I now need suggestions on how to remove these buggers. The worst part, one of the two is the one that’s deep in the center of the transaxle next to the input shaft, so it’s hard to work with it. I’ve tried adding heat, tapping in larger torx drivers, allen heads, etc. Nothing’s working.

Any help will be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

If you can cut the heads off any of them, I'd do that, and then drill and tap it. As for the other one I'd just go straight to drilling it.

I was afraid that’s what it would come to. I believe it would be hard to get a drill bit in the center one, but that’ll be the first thing I try tomorrow.

I'm not sure exactly how hard it would be to drill and tap it, but since I broke 13 bolts in the case on my latest tear down it didn't hurt at all to cut off the head of the one that stripped. I was gonna replace the case anyway so I never drilled any of them.

Should I try and drill out with a bit the same size as the bolt, or bigger? I assume if I can get it drilled center with the same size, I can at least try to retap the original threads. I don’t think there’s too much room for a bigger bolt there.

I would try the original size first. Maybe even just a tiny bit smaller so you could salvage the original threads, but if they're cross-threaded, I'd go the original size and try re-tapping it with an original bolt. It's probably not the best thing to do but I use original bolts to thread stuff all the time. But you never know, you might get lucky and it breaks loose after you start drilling and might be able to vice grip it out... had that happen once when I had to drill a bolt out on an ignition coil.

I’ll try the original size first. I’ll update tomorrow evening on how it goes.

Thank you!

If you have an oscillating multi tool, try putting a narrow blade on it for steel and cutting a slot in the bolt. Put a flat head screwdriver init and turn it out

CraftsmanQuad19 wrote:

If you have an oscillating multi tool, try putting a narrow blade on it for steel and cutting a slot in the bolt. Put a flat head screwdriver init and turn it out

........................ Why didn't I think of that...

Well, I got the heads busted off of them, drilled into them maybe 3/16”, and the case popped loose. from there i was able to turn the rest of the screw out of the hole easily. I guess they were just in a bind? I did drill a little off center on one of them so the threads are gone in one area, but I think I can get by without tapping them. As for the locker, looks like i’m about to fire up the welder

I got everything sealed back up, two bolts replaced. Can someone tell me the proper amount of oil to put in this transaxle? It’s a Spicer 6800-2, can’t find this info anywhere.

Don't know about a Spicer, but I put 1 quart of 75W-90 in all of my Peerless trannies. Seems like it would be the same for a Spicer.

I dumped in a quart of 80w-90 last night, looked to be sealing nicely but haven’t looked today.. previously I had some serious problems with oil leaking from it.

80W-90 will work fine.

Honestly, I still haven't managed to properly seal a geared transaxle. Only one I've ever had apart and doesn't leak is a hydro. My advice whenever sealing a trans is to put a crap load of the higher grade black RTV on, and make sure you RTV around every bolt hole. If not all your bolts will be covered in oil and dripping. Also, be sure you RTV'ed the bolt holes in the middle of the case (if Spicers has them).

Yeah, I removed the majority of previous gasket material and redid it with black RTV. I’ve been kicking myself because I actually forgot to seal around the hole in the center of the case. I added some RTV to the bolt there before putting it in to try and help it. Leaking axle seals have also been a big problem for me but I can’t find any for sale anywhere. I ran RTV over top of them, and wanted to go under but I wasn’t able to lift the axle up far enough without the bull gear flying out.

Well, you probably won't see any leaks until you run it for the first time. That's what happened on my Doc Locked MST. The more drive it, the more it leaks. Hopefully you'll make out better than I did.

That’s what I was thinking too. We’ll see I guess. I wouldn’t be surprised if the locker breaks again, as I’m sure the weld didn’t penetrate all the way to the center (just butt welded it). So I very well may be back in it soon.