ZD21 torque settings

[DonB]

Hi,

Can anyone please tell me the tightening torque for the transmission drain plug, the transmission strainer and the drain plugs for the rear axle gear cases on my ZD21?

I'm doing my 400 hour service. These things were really tight when I removed them. I mean breaker bar with a pipe cheater tight.

Thanks

 

[Stumpy]

Woof it was probably seized a little plus the factory tends to over tightening things a bit in my experience. I'm not sure there is a spec for those floating around. The WSM might have a generic bolt chart but as the sealing washer provides significant resistance to loosening they usually don't need to be that tight.

I torque mine by feel. It's a handy skill to have but you've got to strip a few threads to develop it. I can make up some numbers for you for what I remember from my L175 but I'm not sure how much faith I'd put in them. Trans plug was about 40ft-lbs and the diff plugs and strainer were closer to 25ft-lbs.

 

[DonB]

Thanks Stumpy. That sounds reasonable. I can't imagine how much torque was needed to break those puppies loose. I'm happy the bottom of the transmission case didn't come out with the plug. That one and the strainer were seriously tight.

I do have some generic torque info in my operators manual but drain plugs aren't covered. The bolt scale only goes up to M14 thread with 19 or 22 mm heads. Depending on grade, those are torqued from 79.6 to 108.5 ft-lbs.

 

[Stumpy]

Yeah I've never seen any generic drain plug charts but that's probably cause the holding torque varies with gasket sizes and material. Just check the torque after an hour or so of work a few times if you're worried.