| Author | Message | ||
     Scooter808484 |
After 20 or so successful oil changes on my Road King, I've stripped out the drain hole on my XB12X on the very first try. Read the owner's manual (my service manual got lost at the dealer and hasn't arrived), and it said torque that bolt to 29-34 ft-lbs. Seemed like a lot, I guess it was as it stripped it out pretty darn good. What's the best way to fix this???? | ||
| Yohinan |
29-34 ft-lbs? That seems abnormally high to me. Sure it wasnt in lbs? Either way it would surprise me in the least if their print was in error as it would not be the first time. As far as the fix their is not an easy one to be honest with you. You could heli coil it. You could buy a whole new swingarm. You could drill it completely out and buy a new bung and have that welded in. No matter which route you choose I dont think it is going to be easy to do it the correct way. You can take the cheap and ghetto way out and tape the damn thing or put a rubber plug in. Sorry I couldnt give you better help. Maybe someone else will chime in with something easier that I didnt think of. | ||
| Scooter808484 |
Believe me.... I went back and looked more than once. ft lbs it is!! Rechecked the torque wrench setting, it was set to 30. I went got a one step oversize drain plug. It seems to be holding tightly. I might wire it just for piece of mind though. | ||
| Teeps |
There's a guy (chadhargis) on the Big,Bad,& Dirty board that has a time sert kit he's been known to loan out. Do a search on stripped drain plug(s) | ||
| Jlnance |
It said torque that bolt to 29-34 ft-lbs. Somewhere on the net I found an article about torquing bolts, and I learned a lot. It's not as simple as it seems. The torque values given in a manual are designed to stretch the bolt (or in this case drain plug) a particular amount. There is a formula that relates bolt stretch to torque. The kicker is that it relies on knowing the coefficient of friction between the threads of the bolt and the threads of the nut. If that coefficient of friction is incorrect, say because you have oil on the threads, then your torque values will wrong. Now, what are the chances that the threads on the swingarm didn't have oil on them?  I think specifying a torque for the plug is pretty useless. Actually it's worse than useless because people strip the plug because they try and torque the plug the the specified value. You're not the first to strip it. But the upside is there is some good information floating around here about the problem. I seem to recall someone posting a picture of an oversized drain plug that had a smaller steel drain screw in the middle. That sounded like a good idea. Get one, tap new threads, and only have to screw into the aluminum once. | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
The manual is wrong. The torque specs are too high! I can get in touch with Chad if you need. He is part of our local riding group. | ||
| Teddagreek |
Manuel has things in inch pound and Newtons.. I use Newtons.. Just because the values are there on my torque wrench and I don't have to do any conversions.. Less steps less mistakes... I go one newton up from the bottom range.. | ||
| Scooter808484 |
Ft_bstrd.... I would appreciate that. I'b be willing to rent the Timesert tools or if he could just let me know where I might be able to find one. Looking at that torque spec I thought to myself, "Self, how come that spec is higher than the one for the primary bolt?" "I don't know," I said, "but since it's printed right there I guess it must be right." That big foot pound torque wrench doesn't let you "feel" the bolt like the little inch pound wrench does. Of course, with that torque value, it was too big for my little wrench.} | ||
| Teeps |
The specification, for the Buell oil bag drain bolt, is inline with other drain bolt torque spec's I've seen over the years. Honda for example recommends (up to) 33Lb/Ft. of torque on its drain bolts that thread into cast aluminum housings. The difference is, Honda uses a crush type aluminum sealing washer. Where as, Buell uses an O'ring and thread sealant. The following is not a recommendation: I torqued the oil bag drain bolt to 14Lbs/Ft at the last oil change, on my Ulysses. The drain bolt is still secure and does not leak. | ||
| Teeps |
Scooter808484, You can get a kit of your own here: http://www.timesert.com/html/drainplug.html | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
Scooter, PM me your contact info. | ||
| Davo |
The book is way off on this one. I never go higher than 14 ft-lbs. With 565, an O ring and safety wire 12 ft-lbs. is more than tight enough. | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
Scooter, I forwarded the request on to Chad and will talk with him tomorrow. |
