What is this hole??

Attachment 7360Attachment 7359Just got a 56 CJ3B and have been playing with it the last few weekends. Just noticed some oil undAttachment 7361erneath so crawled under to take a look. At first I assumed it was brake fluid because I had taken off the cap to check fluid and pushed the pedal and some shot out. However this looked black so that’s what got me looking. I found a hole at the base of what I would normally call the bell housing. It’s a small hole...measured slightly smaller than 7/16 and there doesn’t appear to be any threads. However, I can look in it and see what I think is a gear tooth. There is a large drain plug nearby that I assume is for the transfer case or transmission. Besides that drain plug and the drain plug for the oil I don’t see any other plugs. I found a diagram that looks like this could be for the transfer case but it’s just much smaller than most drain plugs. I’m attaching pics. If anyone has any advice I’d certainly appreciate it. Sorry for the messed up pic!

I think that's just an opening to let out anything that gets in there, water, dirt, oil, etc. If there is oil dripping from there it could be from the rear main seal or possibly the front seal on the transmission. Could also be used to use a small pry bar to move the engine very slightly if you needed to. Maybe if the starter gear bound up.

Mark is right on. It is the drain hole on the bottom of the bell housing. The gear you see is the flywheel ring gear. Oil dripping from there on a Jeep is like the sun shining on a clear day. Definitely happens. Early transmissions had questionable oil control on the input shaft, the rear of the engine is seldom dry and there are a few other places oil can get in the bell housing and drip out. A lot of times if the engine is old, the rear main seal will weep oil. It will make its way to that hole.

Awesome, thanks so much!! Glad it’s not a problem. It had not dripped any oil until I checked the brake fluid and some came out then so all is good. That’s a relief. Jeep is really cool. Doubt it will ever see the pavement so first couple of things are to make it a little more comfortable. Primarily, better seats! The fuel gauge doesn’t work so that is the next project...it has no wires attached to the sending unit so I’ll research that. The 4wd works great and it easily creeps thru some good mud holes. We just putt around the farm and haven’t even gotten it out of second gear yet. Need a tailgate also then it will just be fixing whatever goes wrong. Glad to have found this site and I appreciate the responses! Will probably post a list of questions in the next day or so.

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Originally Posted by Mchambers

Will probably post a list of questions in the next day or so.

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Post them! That's how we learn...