Oil Drain Plug Stripped Heli-coil Time

[Alf]

Ah!, using a torque wrench on the drain plug!... good memories come to my mind. My 2nd FJ was bought new. 1.000 kms, new oil, and like I´ve stripped the plug in my previous FJ 1100 (repaired with an heli-coil), what better idea that using the torque wrench with a brand new bike?
WRONG! STRIPPED!. Another Heli-coil and never again using the wrench in that plug

Anyway, each time that I change the oil I can feel a cold swear in my back  

I used liquid gasket in my Laverda 25 years ago... It was dirty and the finish it was not good. Since then I use black sylicon
Yes, get the gaskets. It is not a weak point. 3 heli-coils and no oil leakage

[David Allaband]

Just my 2c worth but why would you want to torque a plug to 30 lb

Because the repair manual told me to. I just looked it up. It says 31 ft lbs. I was following the directions in the Clymer manual. If I had NOT followed the directions in my Clymer manual I would be riding my bike right now instead of contemplating the weeks it will take to repair my bike because I followed the directions in my Clymber manual.

I'll trust my wrist next time. Vulgarities to my Clymer manual.

[Flying Scotsman]

I have stripped out bolt holes many time's on Yamaha GP1200 waverunner cylinders the first time I wanted to cry.I have had to install helicoil's in them at least 10-12 times.Steel bolts going into aluminum/aluminium cylinders multiple times means they wont hold torque without stripping so it is going to happen as you do have to torque cylinders whareas you dont have to torque the oil drain plug in the fj.
It just needs to be tight no more than that.
I have taken GP1200 cylinders and helicoiled all the bolt holes for the head so that I had steel threads to work with instead of aluminum/aluminium.Neved had a problem with them after that.
FJ has a steel bolt going into the aluminum oil pan 31 lb of torque is going to open up the bolt hole it mght not be the first oil change that gets you but over time it will.

[mz_rider]

It might not be much consolation but that's the same figure as the factory manual.

Stuart

[grannyknot]

It might not be much consolation but that's the same figure as the factory manual.

Stuart

The factory manual has its fair share of mistakes for sure,   like any document that gets translated I guess.

[FJmonkey]

Just my 2c worth but why would you want to torque a plug to 30 lb 
I suggest you go hand tight and give it a little more.Let her heat up and snug it up one more time.
30 lb is asking for trouble 

Yea, 30 FP seems too much to seal a non-pressurized sump that has maybe a pound or two of head pressure. The torque is meant to keep the bolt sealing and from falling out. I don't use a torque wrench, I use my "monkey" wrench feel and get to that moment of "tight enough". Cut the torque value in half, if you want to measure it, check it every so often. If it loosens up increase the torque 5 more inch pounds and keep checking. My ratchet wrench is about 8 inches or so I don't really crank on it that hard.....Keep your minds on the FJ.....

[flips]

WAT is TOrk  wentch ?  

sorry..... ....little joke.....

[David Allaband]

Interesting find. When I cleaned the oil sump screen I found sheared off threads. They were the size of the oil drain hole. If I stripped them out when I put the bolt in then there was no way for them to get wedged into the screen because there was no oil in the engine and of course I never started the bike. So they must have been stripped before. When I stripped the drain hole I pulled out the bolt and found two rings of aluminum in it's threads. I thought there should be more. So maybe there were only a couple good threads left and I ripped those out? Maybe someone stripped it before me? Does that makes sense to anyone?

I guess it doesn't really matter. But it would make me feel better about myself and explain the strange location of the stripped threads.

Progress: I have the old pan off and boxed up to mail out to Randy at RPM tomorrow. He's going to Heli-coil it for me and send it back the same day! I might be riding next week!

I want to get this thing back together so I can enjoy the last few months of ridding before cold makes riding a more serious undertaking.

My collector box was rusted all to hell. Three broken clamps an a split pipe. Junk. I need a bolt to hang the right silencer if anyone has one, or knows of a place to find something sturdy like a stainless replacement.

Anyone know where I can get the donuts that go between the collector box and the headers? Most people reuse them but mine crumbled.

Thanks again everyone for everything!