Good morning everyone. Checking if there are any pro tips for removing the driver’s side rear oil rail plug? Best fit thread I could find was this old one (basically same thread title):

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...rail-plug.html

Not drilling my firewall, not pulling the transmission. 1/2” breaker bar from top side is at too much of an angle to keep the drive seated good in the plug, so can’t get enough leverage to break loose. I assume pulling driver’s side up-pipe, and maybe the collector, is the next best option, but I have read the driver side up pipe is usually fairly difficult to get out. Wasn't really wanting to mess with up pipes (not leaking).

Thanks for any advice.

 

First thought is a flex head ratchet. But I have never delt with the rear plugs.

 

Take off the air conditioning/power steering bracket and push it aside. Use a pipe clamp from the front of the head to the rear to hold the ratchet in the plug. Be prepared for it to be stupid tight.

The clamp will keep the ratchet from coming out of the hole in the plug so your attention can be almost 100% focused on loosening the plug.

https://thewoodsmithstore.com/product/rockler-sure-foot-plus-3-4-pipe-clamp/

 

Thanks to both of you for the responses. Worked like a charm. I will post a couple pictures later in case it helps anyone else out.

Already had three of the four loose. Did not have a flex head ratchet or pipe clamp, but figured both would be useful at some point. It's amazing what having the right combination of tools for a job will do.

 

Adding photos in case this might help someone else out. Here's what worked.

Flex head ratchet, plus long pipe clamp to hold ratchet securely in the plug. Had to cut the pipe down to about 28 inches so it would fit in the engine bay.



Here it is on the truck. Already had the AC bracket off for the front plug. Before, I was working with a long breaker bar. But without the ratcheting mechanism it was either clocked too far to the right or left. It was hitting the collector or clutch master cylinder. Pulling the handle on the breaker toward the front to clear the obstructions would lever the drive of the breaker bar out of the plug, which cause it to start to round the edges of the square hole. I also worked with regular ratchet and swivel/universal joint. This combo had too much play in swivel to put any torque on the plug. Plus had the same issue of levering the drive out of the square hole on the plug. The head of the swivel socket is taller and moves the pivot point for the handle up past the head, so it didn't want to pull out nearly as bad as the non-ratcheting breaker bar. And it also has a nice flat back side that the clamp could fit on fairly securely. It's a tight fit. But once this was rigged up it popped the plug loose immediately, no problem at all.



Here's a makeshift way I attempted this on the passenger side. Had an old gear from a torque wrench that broke. Put it in the plug, tapped in with hammer, use pipe wrench to grip the gear. This was not a great combo but worked to get the passenger side out. There's just more room on that side assuming you pull the downpipe out of the way. I have a 2-piece Diamond Eye downpipe that I installed with a band clamp, so pulling it out wasn't much trouble.







Not enough room for this mess on the driver's side

Hope this helps someone. Thanks again to the folks who responded earlier.