So after work this morning I bought a tap and die set at Harbor Freight. Only $13 after a coupon. Anyway, I attempted to clean up the threads but no go. It just wouldn't thread! I tried taking pictures of the threads, but didn't get very sharp images. At this point I realized that there is no other way around it, I have to get the entire turbo out.
The trickiest part I'm running into is getting the oil drain bolts out. Now, to get better access underneath the turbo I removed this little plastic cover/splashguard, sitting around the tie rod...
Once off, I was able to reach my hand up underneath the turbo, and help guide my 10mm socket, with multiple extensions and 2 u-joints from another gap around the front differential, here...
This is a picture of my extension setup. I put some tape around the top u-joint to help keep it steadier, so it wasn't flopping around...
I spent the better part of 30 minutes just trying, again and again and again....and again, just to get the socket onto one of the drain bolts! Here is a picture of my view of the whole process - hopefully the poor visibility highlights just how tight and nearly impossible it was to get the socket onto that bolt. This is what I was looking at the whole time - but now, notice how the bolt is gone?
And here is that insanely hard drain bolt... (1 of 2)
At this point I realized that I can do it! So, in order to get to the second drain bolt under the turbo, I had to remove some of the Electronic Wastegate hardware....
Now, using the same technique as the first drain bolt, I was able to get the second drain bolt out!!
After this, removed the oil input bolt...
Next up, mounting bracket... (it's to the left of the oil input bolt, obviously I took this pic before the one above!)
[Continued]