How Screwed am I?

[Brandnewdriver]

Hey brothers,

I bought my first bike for $4500 last month from a Harley dealer. Sold as is. It’s an 05 Roadstar 1700 Silverado and I love it. Well last night I decided to take everyone’s advice on here and do the oil change myself.

everything was so tight. I had to use a screwdriver to get the oil filter off.

well the plug in the back was really hard to come off and now the plug whole is cracked and I’m not sure what to do.

part of my wants to stick a hot dog up it and then just change half the oil from now on.

My mechanic friend said to weld it and then drill a new hole. That looks like it’s gonna be around $500.

I know y’all have seen much worse. Please let me know some good news.

[Tykes_Place]

Dang. That sucks. I think tig weld and tap is going to be the only true fix for that, and access to make sure you can get to all of the damage is going to be a bitch.

[Lug Nut]

Did it leak? I would maybe try two copper crush washers and put it in reasonable and see if you get a leak. Not a fun/easy fix at all

[Brandnewdriver]

Ya the guy down the street said it’s going to be an hour labor getting a part off for the welder, then another hour to put on. Plus another hour to tap. It’s so frustrating.

do you think a butterfly plug is even possible?

[Brad_G]

Is that a chunk missing where the copper washer seals? That's what I thought I saw when I responded earlier. As mentioned above you could try to see if it really does leak or see if someone can weld it. But they may want it out of the bike to clean/prep the weld area. If you're going to that much work I'd also consider a used case. A real quick search found this.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/372123776982

The above is for a 1600. I know there are some output shaft differences (different nut and washer behind belt drive pulley) between early and later model Road Stars. Not sure if the housing is the same. There is a difference between Road Star Warrior and Road Star as Duke ran across this recently during an engine swap. He might be able to chime in here as well. Lots of guys parting out bikes and the part you need doesn't seem like it would be high demand. So I'd think you could source one reasonable (but then again...thinking gets me in trouble )

Since your innards are most likely ok, you could reuse much of your current parts. Maybe add the cost of a few seals etc. to the cost of the housing. Now if you need to pay a shop to do the work then it could get pricey.

[Tykes_Place]

Rednek fix could be to clean it up, put the bolt back in, and cover it all up with JB Weld. Doing a 50% oil change twice as often won't hurt anything.

[Brandnewdriver]

So I may be doing that. I’m not technical at all. My friend is a diesel mechanic and said he’s seen it all. He’s gonna try a rubber expansion plug. If that doesn’t work. He said just concrete the crap out of it. Drill it in 15k miles and then do it again. He said as long as you get your $4500 out of it, you’re good.

made me feel better. Also makes me feel better knowing y’all are here to always help me and many others out. Really appreciate your kindness.

[Tykes_Place]

Can you tell how far up the threads that crack goes?

If there are enough threads intact maybe you could use some thread sealer. Or even Ultra Black RTV.

[Shores]

Like Tykes says, seal it up and then just use the front plug which drains about half the oil. Do a 2 quart oil change twice as often.

[davej]

A few things come to mind. It appears that the sealing area broke. The worst but proper thing that can happen is you buy a replacement case and install it. Before I sealed it closed I would try to tap it with a pipe thread tap and use a pipe plug if by chance that didn't work replace the case like you need to do anyway. A pipe plug seals from the taper fit of the threads. If you decide to seal it closed use a suction pump to remove the oil from the tank thru the dipstick hole,I think you could get most of it out instead of only changing the oil in the crankcase. There is also a oil pressure port on the bottom of the tank that you might be able to drain oil from, But I'm not sure how well that port would drain. Just a thought

[Brandnewdriver]

These are all great ideas. I am going to try an expandable rubber plug first. My only fear in that is it could expand too much and damage the case more. Buying and replacing the entire case is out of my budget and knowledge. If the rubber plug doesn’t work, I’m just going to put the old plug back in with rtx. And then cover the entire thing in jb weld.

I didn’t know you could pump out the oil from the dipstick which is what I’ll do from now on and complete the full oil change.

I’ll upload pictures when I’m done and keep y’all updated. Thank you so much again! Feel very blessed to have your knowledge on these machines.

[Brandnewdriver]

Cleaned with brake fluid. Will put an adjustable rubber plug in tmrw. If that doesn’t work, just gonna jb weld the crap out of it and it is what it is.

[Brad_G]

Damn that's fubar'd more than I though. Someone must have cross threaded that and just brute forced it. Good luck with this.

[Shores]

Just weld that puppy shut and suck the oil out using a syringe like Dave suggested.

[Brandnewdriver]

Used an adjustable rubber plug. This thing works pretty good. Gonna take it for a few small rides before going on a long haul.

[roadiemort]

That looks like a good outcome, check condition of rubber at oil change intervals.

[Chooch]

If the rubber plug fails you might try drilling and tapping a new plug to accept a male drain petcock. Then J B Weld the assembly into the damaged hole. Cheap and permanent repair.

[Mr. Miyagi]

Could the plug be painted in Pam (cooking spray) and then covered on the threaded end with JB weld and then installed back into the hole and the damage part restore by filling with BJ weld? Just wondering...

[Chooch]

These work well.

[Lug Nut]

I would not feel comfortable with that rubber drain plug plug and long threaded bolt hanging down.....

[Mr. Miyagi]

and same with petcock

[Chooch]

If you don’t like the petcock idea you can use a plug.

[Mr. Miyagi]

Heck, cut me a little slack, I live in Texas where it's entirely possible to have an armadillo bounce off of the bottom of your bike and something hanging down could get damaged.

[Chooch]

We aren’t sure what caused the crack but we should be aware that it is never recommended to use Teflon tape on a threaded aluminum casting. It can cause cracks like the one you are trying to repair.

[Kurf]

Why would teflon tape cause cracks? Never heard that before.

[Chooch]

Teflon tape, technically, isn't a sealant but rather a lubricant. When threading a plug or fitting (especially a tapered thread) into aluminum or thin walled steel Teflon tape promotes over tightening. It is best to use a paste for these applications.

[D-Fresh]

That's one of the concerns i have with using a pipe (tapered) fitting, you are now essentially forcing a wedge into a potentially fractured aluminum housing. The original isn't tapered, it uses a crush washer as the sealing surface. I realize there is no sealing surface left now but the tapered plug could cause more problems IMO.