stripped oil drain plug bolt?

[goldenhillrider 0]

ok. well I must have tightened the drain bolts a little too tight last tune up! stripped out both drains plugs with a socket wrench. I caved in one bolt (because they are hollow in the middle for some reason) by trying vice grips and now im about to drive this thing off a eFing cliff !

but im completely calm about it.

any suggestions please?

[ARGMISTER 0]

Sometimes you can try beating a 6 point socket on, and if there bad enough beat one size smaller on, either metric or american whichever fits best.

[blind_in_1_ear 0]

first things first...get new ones so when you DO get these off, you will be ready!!!

...what IS the torque for those?? inquiring minds...

[goldenhillrider 0]

yea I already bought new ones. about 15 lbs of torque.

[Wing Nut 0]

I wouldn't recommend beating anything with an aluminum case attached to it. Weld a smaller socket to it and use that to remove it.

[boat440 0]

Golderhillrider, I've had similar problems.

Before resorting to drastic action, soak it overnight with a good penetrating oil such as WD-40, Kroil or Liquid Wrench.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penetrating_oil

[Joliet 0]

If it were mine I would soak it overnight like steve said. Then I would cut a slot in them with a hacksaw, or cutoff wheel and use a big screw driver to take them out. Before you try to remove them use a heat gun on the case to heat it up, the aluminum will expand quickly and should release some of its grip on the bolts.

If the bolt is steel, and you have access to a welder like mentioned earlier this would be a clean easy way to remove it also.

Good luck, Ken

[SDlineman 0]

Maybe they are worse in real life, but from the picture I would guess a GOOD 6-point socket might grip them enough to remove. Do you have any mechanic friends? I'm still amazed what a difference having a Snap-On socket makes if cases like this. Worth a try before you break out the welder.

If you want to come to Ramona I've got one you can borrow.

[dirt dame 561]

If I can't get a die grinder or hacksaw in on the hardware to make a slot I just use a chisel to knock a notch in it and then knock it loose with the chisel in the notch. I just had a drain bolt on my Husky strip and I whacked it with a chisel and got it out.

[kellymac530 0]

yeah mimi has the easiest way...take a sharp cold chisel and make an indentation on one side of the head, then angling the chisel to push in the lefty loosy direction strick the chisel and the bolt wil break loose fairly easily. it would be okay to spray it with a penetrating oil and let it sit for a bit...but it is an oil bolt that is sitting in oil so i doubt it would help much honestly.

heat can be helpful for sure but be careful with any open flame on aluminum...you can use it on aluminum but dont hold it on too long or get it too hot..an electric heat gun would be safer for sure.

warm up the aluminum case a bit and tap fairly hard, NOT pound..firm tap on the end of the bolt, then chisel the head with a couple of firm blows on a sharp chisel with a real hammer not a dead blow or rubber mallet...you want the impact effect..

it WILL crack loose with no damage to the cases if you are carefull

[hobiee 28]

pssssshhhhh

just sell it and get a new one.

[kellymac530 0]

yeah i will give him a couple hundred buck for that ruined bike with a bad drain bolt...sight unseen...

[goldenhillrider 0]

thanks for all your suggestions, I tried the chisel that didn't work so now im taking the bike to my buddys house and we are going to weld a socket on it and hopefully that works.

[bikeslut 1]

disconnect the battery first

*hoping he gets this in time

(may not be a problem on all bikes)

[Joliet 0]

For future reference, vice grips; good for holding hot stuff, slightly less effective than a rock for removing bolts. A quality pair of channel lock pliers can be worth their weight in gold time and time again. Ken

[robertaccio 412]

I agree with the above suggestions about using a dremel to slot them. then use a slotted screwdriver with a hex shaft or square shaft or the snap on type with th forged in hex, and turn the driver with a wrench to pop off the screws. Some torch heat would help too.

[bikeslut 1]

hopefully it is all done by now... without a fried stator/coil/battery/speedo/other electrical components

hope everything came out ok...

[ARGMISTER 0]

^^ thats what she said.

[goldenhillrider 0]

Everything worked great we welded two smaller sized sockets to the bolts and the the bolts came off no problem. thanks again for all the suggestion. My buddy Jon is a welder by trade so he knew that we had to unhook the battery, good thing because I would have never thought of that.

[paulmbowers 236]

Cool.

And now you don't even need to replace them!

[kellymac530 0]

now what was the torque spec on those again?

[Wing Nut 0]

Good thing your friend remembered to disconnect the battery. I remembered after I wrote the post, and didn't have access to a computer. Glad it all worked out.