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I freaking stripped my o drain plug!

17K views 63 replies 28 participants last post by  Chattanooga Mark 
#1 ·
What's this gonna cost me. Dealer said 25 for pick up.

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#39 ·
+1 on the time sert. I've seen this happen a lot on buells. (The original manual had a typo in the torque readings for the drain plugs and guys were stripping the hell out of the swingarms (oil res) because the spec in the manual was too high and the swingarms were aluminum.

Favored the the time serts over the coils because of the lip on the time serts, kept you from losing the coils in the tank if you tapped too deep. Many of us went by feel after that when snugging up the plug.
 
#43 ·
So they are finally working on my bike. They say they can't get the plug out. Two options, drill it out or jb weld it and use a vacuum for oil changes.
Bet you fell on the floor laughing for a long time when they laid that bit of crap on you. Reminds me of Bubba's Moorsickle Shop in Cycle World Magazine. Do any of those guys have a full set of teeth? :ltr::ltr:
 
#45 ·
Can you list where you live so we know not to go to that shop. JB Weld, all future oil changes by vacuum. Wow. Don't feel bad about stripping the plug though. A mechanic did mine once and stripped it.
 
#47 ·
Hey Fuller...where do you live? For all travel, food and lodging expenses, I'll go to your place and fix your bike. I come across this situation often in my repair biz. :)
 
#48 ·
A little shop that does small engine repair was able to get mine out and re tap the hole for a larger plug. I can't see why yours would be any worse. Try another mechanic if they can't do the same.
 
#49 ·
This is why I do most of the work on my bikes myself. Lazy took it to a mechanic for the oil change. He cross threaded it. Never mentioned it. All of sudden under the bike I have an oil leak. Went to tighten it and sure enough just spun. A couple of trips to hardware and another motorcycle shop and ll is good.
 
#50 ·
Earlier in this thread Pop opined that it should be SOP to Helicoil these threads at the factory, my argument being that customer maintenance interfaces should be as bulletproof as reasonable economically.
I was wrong.
The factory should be Helicoiling these threads because the baseline for dealer mechanic is low enough that it allows for morons who either believe that JB and a vac pump is the appropriate fix for a stripped plug or believes that the customer is gullible enough to fall for that malarky.
See, this is what happens when a whole nation quits bitchslapping our kids. Stupid people do not even get the chance to learn the importance of keeping their mouths shut.
 
#51 ·
The factory should be Helicoiling these threads because the baseline for dealer mechanic is low enough that it allows for morons who either believe that JB and a vac pump is the appropriate fix for a stripped plug or believes that the customer is gullible enough to fall for that malarky.
What's the difference between a Victory and a vacuum cleaner?
 
#53 ·
Born in the mid 30s, raised by parents hardened by the Great Depression, mobilized during WWII to collect scrap, etc. for the war effort, felt I owed my country my service in the military and generally always did the responsible thing. For decades, I have been witnessing the needle on the Stupid Meter climbing as the Forces For Idiocy mandate less discipline, less responsibility, less general knowledge, less history, fewer consequences, etc., etc.. Today, I'm witnessing the evolution of our society's men losing the ability to know which end of the screwdriver is the handle and their offspring will not be able to recognize one. Soon, if it doesn't have a screen, no one will know how to operate it.
 
#56 ·
:I agree: I can’t help it… as soon as I saw the title of this thread I'm thinking "service manual and torque wrench” I just did my 1st 500 mile oil change (prior to getting rear ended) and the oil plug only took 15 ft pounds of pressure, which really isn’t very much. Anyhow, we all learn quickly when it gets expensive don’t we? :eek:
 
#55 ·
RICZ, I understand your frustration, although I am a bit younger, having been born in '47. I think I agree with your sentiment that people who grow up driving nothing but automatics and always use a dealer for service are missing out on a lot of knowledge that many of us, including me, gained by doing our own work. Unfortunately, most cars and bikes these days are not wrench friendly. I used to open the hood on a potential car buy and look around for where and how I would do an oil change. These days I assume it will be next to impossible for me since this, that and the other component must be removed just to get access to the filter. Similarly, the last few bikes I have owned have had lots of body panels in the way of simple things like a plug change. My own recent purchase of a 4 cylinder Yamaha gave me the opportunity to watch a mechanic remove the seat and the gas tank just to change plugs. How crazy is that? Plugs were once about the easiest thing to do on a bike.
 
#58 ·
Oldman, my rant was aimed at the loss of morals, a lack of knowledge of history, civics, math and manual skills. We are running out of skilled people who can fix cars, bikes, plumbing, appliances, etc.. You should see some of the work I see on the machines I repair as an independent--work done by factory trained and authorized techs. And the customers pay about four times what I would charge them. Unconscionable.
Ask someone, anyone to name their Congressman, State Senator, the three branches of government, where they live on the globe and you'll see why I rant.
 
#60 ·
For those who are curious, dealer ended up grinding the head off and punching it through. Then removed the clutch cover and fishing it out. They charged me two hours and installed some grips for free.
Overall I think I'm happy, lesson learned for myself.

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#61 ·
I think I would have welded a new bolt to the head of the stripped one so that I could really apply some down pressure while I turn it counter clockwise. I guarantee it would have come out and it would have taken about 15 minutes.
Glad they got you taken care of and didn't use JB weld. I'd go elsewhere though from now on. Like somebody else mentioned, for them to even THINK of using JB weld as a repair, they shouldn't even be in the repair business.
 
#62 ·
did they heli coil or tap larger or what for the new plug?
 
#64 ·
You're a man of few words Mr. Fuller.


All the best,

Mark
 
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