Finally was able to drain my transfer case.

It's something I've been wanting to do since I first got my car a little over a year ago, but the drain plug was so tight that it started to round off. I put it to the side since I needed to drop the transmission crossmember to really get to the bolt.

So yesterday, I removed the exhaust, dropped the transmission cross member, and tried to get the bolt off. I used penetrant first with no luck. Then I used a torch and tried rocking the torque back and forth, using a hammer, etc. Eventually I felt like the socket was just about to give up on the bolt head, so I switched to an easy out and a 6' breaker bar. Still no luck, so I cut the head off the bolt and then notched a slot in it. I used a chisel and hammer to rotate it out. What a pain!

New bolt vs. old bolt in 2 pieces:

Attached Images

 

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2006 X5 4.8is