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OK, I have VERY GOOD ten mm hex, that I used on Camry, Highlander and fill plug on son's GX without any issues. It's not the wrench.
I could not remove front diff drain plug today. Filler plug - no problem.
I tried several different wrench positions, Liquid Wrench, no mas. Hex starts slipping inside the plug and I had to stop every time, not to strip it completely.
Any pointers on how to remove that plug? We just did all fluids except the front diff, because of that plug.
When you do get it out, replace all your drain plus with std magnetic bolts from: https://drainplugmagnets.com/cars/toyota-lexus/
Much better design and you get the bonus of super strong magnets to catch metal shards.
I had the same issue with the overfill plug on the transmission pan - stripped allen head. I used a pair of 10" Knipex Cobra pliers (love Knipex stuff) to grab the outside circumference of the head. Worked like a charm. Didn't have to fool with extractors, welding on a nut or the cold chisel method. Luckily, even though the overfill plug is sunken into the pan a little, I had enough room to get a good purchase on the head with the Cobras. It did not take a lot of pressure to remove it (pretty sure my 7.25" Cobras would have done the job as well). Watching the video above, it looks like there is enough space in between the ribs of the diff to get a pair of Cobras in there. $35 or so for the 10" pair on Amazon.
I could not get my front diff drain plug off either years ago. Ended up taking it to the dealer to remove and make it their problem. Cost me $120 to eliminate the headache. When I went to pick it up the service tech told me it was a pain and it took them a long time to get it off.
Ok so after doing a little research I found a post from Tacoma04 on the Tacoma World forum who said these front and drain filler plugs listed below are a fit and do not use the 10mm female Allen head to screw the plug. It uses a protruding 6 point head for your socket to go onto which works better. Apparently it is used on Tacoma's, GX460, GS250, GS350 and others. Ordered from my Lexus dealer and will see if they work or not when I do my diff fluid changes.
The drain plug also has a magnetic end for those shavings. The only call out is that now you have a nub protruding a little from the plug so you will have a slight chance you will hit the plug with a ground surface if you do some off-roading/crawling.
Front Drain Plug Part Number: 90341-24016
Front Filler Plug Part Number: 90341-18060
I have not proven this works on the GX470 yet. Once I do my changes I will report back if they are a great replacement to the regular hex plugs or not.
Here are some pics of the front diff drain and fill plugs for the GX460, GS250, GS350, etc. which I have read should be a direct fit to the GX470. I bought these at my local Lexus dealer and when I mentioned I wanted to put these on my GX470 he nodded and said "Ah because of the allen wrench" as if they know about this alternate solution. The drain plug is outside the bag and the fill plug is in the bag. As you can see, they do not use the female allen opening for tightening and loosening and use a wrench/socket to do it and should work much better for stuck plugs.
Planning on drain/fill/install of these sometime in the next couple of weeks and will report back.
I have Sunex 3648 7 Piece 3/8" Drive Metric Impact Hex Driver Set and I tap it into the bolt, which creates a good fit. Similar technique as the tool made to fit bolt, but I have to be more careful when I tap it, since if tapped the wrong way, it could worsen problem.
Stripped front diff drain plug
