[el tut]

Ok, I screwed up and stripped out my oil drain plug. Do I get an oversized plug or do I replace the oil pan like one dealership recommended. Are they just trying to sell me a $106 pan??? I want to do it right but I just as soon not part with the $$$ if it is unnecessary.

 

[HIPPO]

More then one way to skin a cat.
You can use one of the self threading oversize plugs they sell at parts stores, but it's a temporary solution sure to give you more problems down the road.

You can replace the pan and it is a proper repair.

If it were my bike and since you have to remove the pan anyway, I would use a HeliCoil insert. Much better then a new pan, as the castings are of a pretty cheap quality of aluminum. It will never strip again and even if you have a machine shop install the HeliCoil it's cheaper then a new pan.

 

[el tut]

Thanks Hippo...

I just ordered a new pan after talking with a machinist who said he did not believe the HeliCoil would seal. Another lesson learned.

 

[electrified]

they used to make the heavy rubber type plugs for cars that you would install with a plastic driver

just a thought..

 

[HIPPO]

New pan is fine, he may not have been aware it is sealed by an O ring.

I never use the factory spec for the plugs. I suspect the spec might have been for a dry thread. About 12 ft/lb is what I feel comfortable with and never had one come loose. Use liquid teflon on the threads.

The one's that thread into steel like on the softails are OK with the spec.

 

[el tut]

The machinist was familiar with the o-ring. He said it wasn't large enough in diameter to seal the HeliCoil and it would leak between the coil and the casting. The only alternative was to have a stainless steel insert heliarced into the pan. (Why didn't HD do something like that in the first place?)

 

[HIPPO]

Money. They do a lot of stuff just good enough which would be easier to swallow in a budget priced piece of equipment, but that's the way it goes these days even with some pretty upscale european stuff.