Berta Two Stage Snow Blower Auger gear box oil change

[WinterDeere]

I used to--and still think that no drain plug is a bad idea for maintenance minded people. I can modify that opinion now since I have discovered the Harbor Freight suction gun (see post #7) with small diameter tubing. I two recent applications I have drawn out the equivalent of what was the fill capacity is.

The trouble I envision with this, real or perceived, is that a drain plug allows any solid particulates (metal filings) to be swept out with the fluid, when draining a gear box or oil pan. But by using suction, it seems more likely a large part of any such solid particulates will remain in the bottom of the gear box.

But I've also never griped about draining a snowblower gearbox. Stand the thing up on it's front end, like I describe on page 1 of this thread, and pull the plug! That fill plug is a drain plug, depending on which way you tilt the implement.