Oil drain plug is stuck

[Guest]

Went to do an oil change today and the oil drain plug is stuck on there realllly good. One of the first things I ever did on this bike was an oil change, late last fall after I bought it. Being pretty inexperienced at that point, I probably over tightened it. Now I know better, lol

I squirted some PB all over it and tried a little heat too, not budging. Furthest I've gone in terms of leverage is my torque wrench. I have a 1.5 ft breaker bar but I'm a little gun shy with it due to the OTHER mess that's going on right now... broken exhaust bolts

How much torque can I reasonably apply to it before I need to be worrying about breaking it or cross threading it?

[Agemax]

you cant cross thread it by undoing it. you wont snap the drain bolt either. worse case scenario is stripping the threads out, but highly unlikely undoing it. use the breaker bar and you should be fine

[tatu]

As much as it takes, just be sure you're undoing it. Its got to come out sometime.

[exzachtly1]

Cool thanks guys. I'll give it a shot.

[Larry D]

Yes...that bolt is "upside down", so, make sure you're doing the lefty-loosey thing.

I had to get a breaker-bar to get the oil drain bolt off of the GK the first time.

[exzachtly1]

Yes...that bolt is "upside down", so, make sure you're doing the lefty-loosey thing.

I had to get a breaker-bar to get the oil drain bolt off of the GK the first time.

To be triple sure, on the left side of the bike I'd turn toward the front wheel... right?

I'm kicking myself because it is NOT the first time I've had it off, so it's my own fault. Next time I'll be following the torque spec. Off to the store to get a 1/2 to 3/8 adapter for the breaker bar!

[earlfor]

I've never heard of anyone stripping the threads on a drain bolt when unscrewing it.

[bbjumper]

Once you get it it outa there you might consider using a fiber washer in place of the crush washer. Fiber washers require less torque to secure, there compressible and will hold tension on the bolt so it won't back out and they are reusable.

Cheers

[exzachtly1]

Out of there. Amazing what a little extra leverage does, I barely had to work it. So glad I bought that breaker bar

Side effect of this was I finally went to the harbor freight around me for the first time. Figured I'd get my adapter and a few other things. What a cool store! Everything is so cheap, got some cotter pins, zip ties, case for my dremel, diamond cutting discs and burrs, a big set of left hand drill bits, all for like 30 bucks. I should have been going there for everything, makes lowes look like a RIP OFF.

[Agemax]

Out of there. Amazing what a little extra leverage does, I barely had to work it. So glad I bought that breaker bar

Side effect of this was I finally went to the harbor freight around me for the first time. Figured I'd get my adapter and a few other things. What a cool store! Everything is so cheap, got some cotter pins, zip ties, case for my dremel, diamond cutting discs and burrs, a big set of left hand drill bits, all for like 30 bucks. I should have been going there for everything, makes lowes look like a RIP OFF.

great, now you know the power of leverage......... i dont mean to intimidate you any further but now do you see how trying to undo your seized exhaust studs will be a whole lot easier with a larger wrench/ratchet than your 1/4 drive set up. the bolts may sound like they are protesting and fool you into thinking they are going to shear when actually it is the small ratchet that is holding you back.
i am not saying use your long breaker bar on them but a little more leverage goes a long way into undoing those little suckers......

[exzachtly1]

great, now you know the power of leverage......... i dont mean to intimidate you any further but now do you see how trying to undo your seized exhaust studs will be a whole lot easier with a larger wrench/ratchet than your 1/4 drive set up. the bolts may sound like they are protesting and fool you into thinking they are going to shear when actually it is the small ratchet that is holding you back.
i am not saying use your long breaker bar on them but a little more leverage goes a long way into undoing those little suckers......

Good point. I was thinking about this earlier, and wonder if at some point I just need to "go for it" and see if they either break or come out. It is very tough to tell whether they are breaking or turning, which sucks. Adam (loud_et) will be coming on Saturday to help and I'm stocked up on tools now that should assist with the job. I'm hoping that his experience can help me gauge that feeling on the bolts... it would be so amazing to come away from this with only 3 broken ones to deal with at the end. That's my main goal right now

[eil]

Everything is so cheap

Truer words never spoken.

You gotta be picky at HF. Some things are a good bargain. Others are worthless. It's like shop tool roulette! I bought a heat gun that pooped out after only a few hours of use. (Well after the 90-day warranty, though.) And a set of snap-ring pliers with a changeable "head" that don't even work. But I haven't had any problems with a bench grinder, compression tester, and miscellaneous other things.

My biggest issue with HF is that I often need a special (but not exotic) tool and either they don't carry it, or they're out of stock. You also can't buy things like sockets and drill bits in single quantities. I'm not going to throw out my whole socket set just because one or two broke...

[BIG_brother]

you cant cross thread it by undoing it. you wont snap the drain bolt either. worse case scenario is stripping the threads out, but highly unlikely undoing it. use the breaker bar and you should be fine

times two for me

[zuzu]

Truer words never spoken.

You gotta be picky at HF. Some things are a good bargain. Others are worthless. It's like shop tool roulette! I bought a heat gun that pooped out after only a few hours of use. (Well after the 90-day warranty, though.) And a set of snap-ring pliers with a changeable "head" that don't even work. But I haven't had any problems with a bench grinder, compression tester, and miscellaneous other things.

The set of snap-ring pliers with a changeable "heads" that I got worke great.
Sorry to hear yours did not.
I agree with your opinion of HF. I just bought a torque wrench and wonder how accurate it is...

[earlfor]

The set of snap-ring pliers with a changeable "heads" that I got worke great.
Sorry to hear yours did not.
I agree with your opinion of HF. I just bought a torque wrench and wonder how accurate it is...

I bought two "clicker" type torque wrenches from HF a few years ago. Neither of them was anywhere close to being as accurate as my guesstimate with a standard wrench. I dropped both of them in the trash can.