Near the bottom of the oil pump are two round, black, hard rubber plugs, with each of them maybe the size of a dime or smaller.

After the differential pipe has been removed, and the plug can be accessed from the back, the process we should have used is to tap or push the plugs through from the front to the back, and catch them as they fell out.

Instead, we pulled them out and destroyed them in the process. Good thing the rebuild bundle we bought comes with a fresh set.

Here is a picture of the oil pump, with a blue light behind it to show what the area looks like with the two plugs removed.

Here’s a close-up picture of one of the damaged plugs.