Hey all, new to this forum. anyhow yesterday i was changing the oil on 2001 super sherpa. noticed the drain bolt was spinning and not seeming to get tight so i kept tightening it until i heard a crack - a piece of the case broke off where the bolt goes in - the piece has some threads on it. i know the case is cast aluminum - wondering if it can be fixed or what all your ideas are?
I guess my next step is to take the crank case off the bike. I was looking at parts quick and see a new case is 580$!!!!! does that sound right? everything except the little f****** drain plug outlet is fine. what a poor design that it cannot just be a replaceable pan at the bottom. is it a hard job removing the crank case from bike?
I bet. That sucks. Post a pic of what you are dealing with. The price for the case sounds about right. It is quite a big project. I have repaired cases with JB weld and ended up with an oil tight repair.
I was going to suggest JB Weld also. Epoxy a female threaded pipe with plug into the hole. Not pretty but it's cheap.
+1 pull the engine take the lump to him so he can clean it, and weld flat. How bout a photo of that Farmall
I had something similar happen under a primary cover for the overflow screw. I ended up using one of these weld nuts JB welded into the bottom. So far, so good
depending on how much material is left, you could retap with an 1st/2nd/3rd oversize drain plug. if this works, and you get nice threads and if for some reason it leaks i'm a fan of parker stat-o-seals instead of copper crush in a damage situation - but the stat-o-seals are not reusable.
+2 Some of the other fixes may work. Welding will work forever if you find a competent welder. Think of it as your chance to find a develop a relationship with a good welder. They're good to know. And don't feel too bad. We all screw stuff up sometimes, or have in the past.
The problem with welding is it needs to be very clean. That means splitting the cases. Might as well buy the new case half.
If it was only that simple. He said it was spinning and wasn't getting tight. If it doesn't feel like it's getting tight how can you know if it's over tightened? I'd say the lesson is to develop a feel or use a torque wrench. Of course the drain plug could've been a disaster waiting to happen due to abuse by the PO.
Devcon or JB Weld is your good friend. I have repaired MC cases and other aluminum low stressed items for years with it. It will handle the same temps as motor oil or water. It's ugly, but it works.
Yea, that is not me. I can weld AL, but I would not try to weld something that was filled with oil and I could not clean both sides real well.
I'm just a hack, but have welded up a few cases successfully. For a drain plug repair it'll be much easier if the motor is removed from the frame. Making a bung beforehand and welding it in may be a lot easier than welding up the hole and fabricating the drain hole in the case. JB weld (etc) often works, but prep is even more important than for welding. Bad welding prep will show up in the shop as a bad weld. Bad glue prep will show up down the road as an oiled up back tire and seized motor.
The welder can evaluate whether or not a good repair can be made. IF it can be repaired sufficiently then the OP will save himself around $400.