[Darien1965]

Hey, anyone hear of a oil plug stripping out? 06 RK. From the beging, pulled the plug had o-ring and looks like pipe tpf or tef tape, more like the first. Drain oil and so forth started plug in with hand and continued. torqued to 18 ft-lbs (14-20) by book, didn't feel right. devolped leak checked torque and it just keeps on spinnig. Shop says I'm on my own (oh they did the first oil change, this is the second) any solutions, "And I ponder why me"

 

[TexRod]

I always heard one can't have a real Harley without it having an oil leak!

 

[Darien1965]

Believe me I've heard it already.

 

[Kainam]

It shouldnt have any tape or tpf on the plug. Sorry, sounds like the shop fucked ya. Im taking it that the plug threads looked normal when you took it out? Ive never owned a RK, where is the drain plug on those? Can it be heli-coiled?

 

[Darien1965]

Yeap

Kinda what I thought, tpf with an o-ring ?? bottom left front of case for the plug. I was thinking heli-coil or over sized self tapping plug. Any pref or ideas. I knew there was a reason I used to do all my own work. I can F it up as good as anyone!! Trying to come up with the best idea for long term no worries. Time to have one an think, maybe two. Thanks

 

[Kainam]

I would go with the heli-coil myself. Those things are tough as nails. My brother has used them to repair the spark plug holes in the aluminum heads of his '69 Triumph that were stripped out. Now, there are 2 different kinds of heli-coils you can get... Self tapping and ones that you need to tap the threads prior to inserting the heli-coil. I would probably use the kind that you need to tap the threads out yourself. Just load up the tap with grease to catch all the shavings, and use a degreaser on the freshly cut threads prior to inserting the heli-coil with lock-tite.... Just my personal preference.

 

[2kflhr]

I would go with the heli-coil myself. Those things are tough as nails. My brother has used them to repair the spark plug holes in the aluminum heads of his '69 Triumph that were stripped out. Now, there are 2 different kinds of heli-coils you can get... Self tapping and ones that you need to tap the threads prior to inserting the heli-coil. I would probably use the kind that you need to tap the threads out yourself. Just load up the tap with grease to catch all the shavings, and use a degreaser on the freshly cut threads prior to inserting the heli-coil with lock-tite.... Just my personal preference.

What about breaking the tang off?

 

[Darien1965]

Hey jobs done. After my two and a full day at work thinking on it. I come up with this (oil plug 1/2-20 stripped all threads away)
(1)go to auto store get over sized oil plug- may break case with plug
(2)heli-coil- tap and insert heli-coil," wa-la "same plug.
(3)Tap hole 9/16-18, drill size 33/64, hole was already reamed out to about 32/64-hmmm close.Tap hole,shop vac during and after,run some oil through it just in case,insert 9/16-18*1/2 with o-ring,torque to 14 ft/lbs, add oil check and ride.
O' as you can see I went with the third option. Thanks for all the input it was very helpful and great ideas.

BIG "D"

 

[2kflhr]

Hey jobs done. After my two and a full day at work thinking on it. I come up with this (oil plug 1/2-20 stripped all threads away)
(1)go to auto store get over sized oil plug- may break case with plug
(2)heli-coil- tap and insert heli-coil," wa-la "same plug.
(3)Tap hole 9/16-18, drill size 33/64, hole was already reamed out to about 32/64-hmmm close.Tap hole,shop vac during and after,run some oil through it just in case,insert 9/16-18*1/2 with o-ring,torque to 14 ft/lbs, add oil check and ride.
O' as you can see I went with the third option. Thanks for all the input it was very helpful and great ideas.

BIG "D"

Glad to hear it all worked out and now you never have to seat it again. One question though, how did you contain the tang on the heli-coil when you broke it off?

 

[Darien1965]

Glad to hear it all worked out and now you never have to seat it again. One question though, how did you contain the tang on the heli-coil when you broke it off?

Oh, no heli-coil. If I was going to tap it, why use heli-coil- one more piece to the puzzle. Just went one size up from the original 1/2-20 plug to 9/16 -18 plug, which is a bolt with an o-ring. Seems to be working ok now and hope it does for a long time. Hope nobody else ever has this problem, but if they do here's one solution.
PS really needs to be allen head bolt, head on 9/16 just fits or weld the head of the 1/2 plug on top.
That was just my fix and I'm sure others might have a better one.

BIG"D"