[Msteele]

I noticed a leak at one of the drain plugs in my left fork (which I just did SOOOOO much work on), and so bent down to tighten the nut. It spun to easily and before I knew it I had almost completely stripped the soft aluminum threads out. Needless to say the leak is... uh... worse. What do you recommend I do, tap the hole and find a new screw that is an approximate match? Has anyone had this happen to them? I exerted so little force, it must have been stripped just a bit from when I originally tightened it up.

As an aside, one header bolt on each side of my exhaust manifold is stuck beyond belief. Following advice from searching through the forum, I hit it with PB blaster, let it sit, hit it again, let it sit some more, then heated the nut up nicely with a propane torch. My vice grips still slid around like a snail on a slip-n-slide. I'm running out of options. Real hard to get in there as they are the innermost front bolts. Should I just cut through them with a dremel cut off wheel? ugh. :wtf:

thank you!

 

[englishted]

Which model of Goldwing is this?

 

[Ken Bergen]

Which model of Goldwing is this?

Don't you know the forum game?:readit:
It goes,

This is the problem
or
This is symptom

Now you guess the year and model of my or my friends bike.

Winner gets a barrel of mana.:bow::bow:

 

[JWayne]

Ah yes, the mind reading game again.

Don't you just love it when a member of the forum won't tell us what Goldwing he has, and won't even take a few seconds to add it to his account profile.

 

[Ansimp]

Maybe some people don't actually want help, they just want to vent!

 

[DaveO430]

You will have to either tap the drain hole to the next larger size or put a thread insert in it.
And yes you may have to cut the nut off the exhaust.
Doesn't matter which model you have on these matters but most of the time it does help when diagnosing a problem. We don't remember what model you have until you get really well known on the forum and maybe not even then.

 

[xamper]

...

Now you guess the year and model of my or my friends bike....

I'll play the game. My guess is that he is talking about 78 gl1000. He has posted 10 so far and 8 of them are about that.

:waving:

 

[Bootwing1100]

I'll play the game. My guess is that he is talking about 78 gl1000. He has posted 10 so far and 8 of them are about that.

:waving:

Aww that's cheating. No fun when you go and check his posts. :ROFL:

 

[Bootwing1100]

Maybe some people don't actually want help, they just want to vent!

Maybe they just want to have some fun with the forgetful member. :ROFL:

 

[Msteele]

Sorry team,

This is actually for an 81 gl1100. I didn't think this information was relevant since both questions were more oriented towards the metal than the bike itself. Still, never too much information, right?

I'll update my profile immediately - no excuse for that. Apologies.

 

[Msteele]

Dave, Thanks for the advice - I just needed a vote of confidence to take the route you suggested. I'll go pick up a metric tap after I size the plug.

There is no way I'm getting this header bolt off (5 days later, accepting defeat), so time for the cut off wheel.

Thanks again, guys, for the attention.

 

[xamper]

Sorry team,

This is actually for an 81 gl1100.

DOH! I got it wrong.

:-(

 

[ateamer]

I did the same thing with my GL1500SE. Took it to a local shop where the mech put in a helicoil. He said that torque for the original bolt should have been 13 foot pounds. As I recall, the manual didn't have the torque listed for that bolt, or I overloooked it. Lesson learned: If it isn't listed in the shop manual, there are torque tables online that have it. Torque is based on the diameter, thread pitch and grade of bolt.

 

[DriverRider]

When working on exhausts and removing parts that will be reused Oxy-Acetelyne is the gas of choice. Propane will never get parts hot enough but is good for sweating copper pipe.

 

[Ken Bergen]

For what it's worth generic torque tables assume that thread engagement is at least twice the bolt diameter which often is not the case with drain bolts.

So if the torque isn't given for a drain bolt I'd reduce the torque to about half or even less of what the generic table says.

 

[doodle0407]

guys that fork drain bolt dont thread into the alum the thread is in the botom inside slide tube under the spring

 

[longrider]

Stud Nut Surgery

Try cutting the nut away from the stud without cutting the stud off itself. That way, you can get the exhaust pipes off and still have some material to work with when you attempt to remove the stud. This takes a little patience on your part but will be well worth it later when you are using your vice grips to remove that stud.

BTW: I use Kano Kroil to remove frozen, rusty bits. A bit pricey but more effective than PB Blaster. Look it up online.

 

[doodle0407]

its called dampener rod threads are in it

 

[Ken Bergen]

guys that fork drain bolt dont thread into the alum the thread is in the botom inside slide tube under the spring

Please pay attention.
The question was about an 81 gl1100 which does have a drain bolt in the side of the fork.

Of course you've not told us the year and model of the Schwinn you're riding either.:ROFL::ROFL::ROFL:

 

[SMEDEN(=the blacksmith)]

For the fork problem , - try a longer bolt first . Somethimes the nut/thread is only bad in the first part and this "trick" can fix it , until you have time for real repair .