Stripped my oil drain plug....

[jchantzWR400F]

Well, I've read about it several times, and it finally happened. For the first time, I tried to do things right. I brought a brand new torque wrench home from work in anticipation of changing the oil, and torquing some nuts.

When I went to torque the crank case bolt, it spun before the wrench broke at the recommended limit. (14 lbs I think)

I had read about heli-coils, and timeserts, but am curious as to how all of the oil will drain out since when you look inside the case at the threads, they actually go up into the case and they have slots cut in them to allow for full oil drainage.

Anyone tried anything else...Right now I'm leaning towards trying a little JB Weld. Then drilling and taping a much smaller hole for maybe a 8mm thread. Will try to make JB Weld surfaced flat as possible. Then use nylon washer, or crush washer with bolt to seal.

Any thoughts??????

[tctrailrider]

Used to have a KX80 with a stripped drain plug. I would lay the bike on its side, put the plug in with JB weld and leave it on its side for a day to dry. Seemed to work fine. To fix it properly is a big job, time certs, helicoil or tapping a larger hole. The only way to be sure your cuttings are not left inside is to split the cases.

[Math]

The drain plug stripped on my old KDX200. I layed it on its side, taped a bigger hole through the previous one and used a bigger bolt thereafter.

[Jekel]

i fixed mine with the heli coil. Took about a week and a half to get the kit from auto parts, kept sending the wrong size. When drilling/cleaning out the hole, put some grease on the end of the bit and go slow. Then do the same when tapping in the threads. When all is done flush with oil a couple times and change the filter. All metal was flushed out doing this(not much to flush) and no abnormalities noted since. Has been well over a year since and worth the money/time. Do it right. Also much better than it was factory. Also recommend a magnetic drain bolt just to make you sleep better at night. My .02 ?

[jchantzWR400F]

i fixed mine with the heli coil. Took about a week and a half to get the kit from auto parts, kept sending the wrong size. When drilling/cleaning out the hole, put some grease on the end of the bit and go slow. Then do the same when tapping in the threads. When all is done flush with oil a couple times and change the filter. All metal was flushed out doing this(not much to flush) and no abnormalities noted since. Has been well over a year since and worth the money/time. Do it right. Also much better than it was factory. Also recommend a magnetic drain bolt just to make you sleep better at night. My .02 ?

With the design of the threads in the case, with the heli-coil fix, how do you make sure that all of the oil drains out??? The standard threads run up into the case, and there are slits cut on each side to allow the oil to drain out.

[MN_Kevin]

Same thing happened to me. I checked out heli coil, time serts, etc.

To make it work right, the heli coil must BOTTOM OUT before backing your tool out. You CANNOT bottom the heli-coil to effectively LOCK it in place. The time sert I THINK, was the same. Both kits were slightly costly due to needing the whole kit.

The time sert was ~$70.

I ended up going w/ a slightly larger (also tighter pitch!!) drain plug purchased at a (Pep Boys, Auto Zone, etc). Using the correct tap and required drill bit (from the tap & die chart), I drilled out the hole.

A couple of things:

Inside the engine, it appears there is a "canopy" per se over the hole. If you keep on pushing with the drill, you will blow a hole right through the canopy. This IS part of the case itself.

This canopy has oil slots cut into it for oil drainage (out the drain hole). As soon as the drill bit clears the threaded region, (I was) cutting CHUNCKS out of the canopy / case. This was real spooky >> like I need to buy a new case spooky.

I drank two Guiness Stouts for courage, and drilled out the case threads. Used the fine pitch tap (1.25) and tapped the case. So far I have had zero issues. It would have been nice to use stainless steel and make a brutally strong...but OH WELL!

[jchantzWR400F]

Kevin...are you saying that as I follow the threads up into the case, it just doesn't open into the oil resevoir. That is to say, where the threads stop, there is a "canopy" or "lid" or "roof" or whatever you want to call it...And that's the case? What if I only drill out the threaded area and re-tap. Do you think that will work. Also, i think the threads are 12 mil. What did you tap to?

[Dan_Lorenze]

I stripped out the drain plug on my old WR426. I bought a "Recoil" brand kit part #37120, the size is M12-1.5 I had no problems tapping the hole, but I did hit the canopy..Oops.. I think I punchured it but nothing ever came from it.. Anyway, the insert went in without a problem but oil still dripped out the sides of the bolt head, I got a fiber washer for a YZ and that fixed the problem.. Now reading this post I believe I probably could have done a better job installing the insert by going in more, I think that would've eliminated the leakage.. But I dunno....

good luck..

[MN_Kevin]

Kevin...are you saying that as I follow the threads up into the case, it just doesn't open into the oil resevoir. That is to say, where the threads stop, there is a "canopy" or "lid" or "roof" or whatever you want to call it...And that's the case? What if I only drill out the threaded area and re-tap. Do you think that will work. Also, i think the threads are 12 mil. What did you tap to?

The best way to describe the inside of the case, at the drain plug, is this way: Take a cup, put it over the hole, cut some slots in it where it meets the case (for your oil drain path) , and there you have it.

My problem was I had no clue about the canopy. When I was removing chunks of the case during the drilling procedure, I pretty much freaked out.

If you can acccurately measure how far inside the case the THREADS ACTUALLY GO, MARK YOUR DRILL BIT so as not to exceed that distance, you should (now I did say "SHOULD" ?) be OK.

As for size of the replacement bolt, I cannot remember. Just measure the width of the stock bolt.

This WILL be your starting point for the required oversize bit you will need to use, for your new tap.

I think I used an SAE (thread diameter) replacement drain bolt that MAY have used a 9/16 i.e. 14 mm socket on the hex head.

[jchantzWR400F]

Appreciate the help Kevin. I will probably go the route of measuring the drill bit for depth inside the case. This should save me from the possibility of having a freaking heart attack if I were to drill some place that wasn't meant to be drilled. Then drill, and tap and new hole.

?

[MN_Kevin]

?