| Author | Message | ||
     Wildman171 |
On a ride a couple weeks ago the rear cylinder plug blew out. Is an '06 Uly with 47,000 Km.Threads are stripped on head. Aluminum? Has anyone else had this happen? Any suggestions on best way to fix? What is price of new head? Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thx. | ||
| Buellerxt |
Lets hope Dr. Greg chimes in here, Wildman171. I remember that he had that happen on his 2006. He'd be a great one to hear from. If he doesn't see this thread you might consider pm'ing him. Best of luck. | ||
| Uly_man |
I think you can have alloy head threads fixed with a hard metal coil. You may have to take the head off though. Ask Ratbuell he knows what can be done with this bike. | ||
| Tootal |
+1 Dr. Greg. Here's a link to his repair thread. http://www.badweatherbikers.com/buell/messages/142 838/411987.html | ||
| Wildman171 |
Thanks for the great info and links gentlemen. Many trouble free miles to you all!! | ||
| Johnshore |
Just my opinion. I rotated the motor and used the timesert without removing the head. I used a lot of grease to hold the chips and backed out the tap often to clean the chips. I also did both holes. 8000 miles ago. | ||
| Tootal |
Johnshore, that's a great way to save time. You can also neck your vacuum sweeper down to a piece of rubber tubing and vacuum anything that made it past the grease. | ||
| Rwcfrank |
Put a length of oily cotton rope 1/4 inch or so down the sparg plug hole with the piston at BTDC rotate the motor to move the piston up until the rope take ups all the free space. When your done drilling and tapping using the grease and vacuum methods mentioned above. Pull out the cotton rope gently and the last little bits of metal will come out stuck to the cotton. | ||
| Ronmold |
Shop vac on the blow side hooked up to the exhaust. turn crank till rear cylinder exhaust valve is open and massive amounts of air flow out sparkplug hole. Any filings from re-tapping will fly OUT the head but please protect your eyes! | ||
| Dr_greg |
Hello! Yes, I'm very familiar with this problem. I'd suggest a Time-Sert fix, as has already been noted. Take your time and note the "sequence" of disassembly/assembly. It's been long enough that I almost fondly remember those days... --Doc | ||
| Tootal |
It's been long enough that I almost fondly remember those days... I bet you do! That was before the suicidal deer slaying! OH,and the Colorado black ice! And then there was the... I'm sure glad you're made of rubber!  | ||
| Arry |
I like ronmold's idea, for keeping chips out. I hadn't thought of that. | ||
| Motorfish |
Quite a while ago I did the same thing on my FXR. I was at Americade, in NY, and I brought it to McDermott`s HD in Fort Anne. They took me in late on a Saturday, during Americade, one of their busiest times. They had me out in about 30 min right before closing. I believe they installed a heli-coil, w/o removing the head. My point is, I`ve ran the bike thousands of miles since, with no problems. You should be fine. Although McDermott`s never sold Buells,I think, they were one of the best dealers I have ever been to. Hope it works out for you. | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
It's weird that this happens at all let alone as often as it does. Does it happen to spaortsters and big twins as much? | ||
| Ratbuell |
It all depends on the service technique - torque, anti-seize, do you pull the plugs hot or cold, etc. (knocks on wood) I've never blown head threads on a Buell. I NEVER remove a plug from a hot head, though. ALWAYS let it cool, till you can hold your hand on it for over a minute. Dissimilar metals are bad enough; add heat to the mix and you can weaken the threads in the aluminum. I have, however, blown a plug out of my (also aluminum-headed) 2.2 turbo Dodge. Funny what 38psi of boost can do in a car designed for 7.5psi...but anyway. Drill. Tap. Install helicoil. Remove all the OTHER plugs. Crank engine till debris stops flying out the plug hole (I also grease my taps to try and minimize). Anything left is small enough it won't cause damage - and its an aluminum chip, versus steel rings and a steel cylinder sleeve anyway. The chip will lose. Install plugs and ride. |
