Cool, didn't know there were two reds. Yeah, 300* or more is what I thought to break loose. I had the tail shaft nut on my 87's MT come off. When I fixed it, I followed Kevin C's advice on using the [HT] red. I hope to never open the tranny again... <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/notooth.gif" alt="" />

There are a lot of versions of Loctite. All of them will give in to a little bit if torch. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/rodent.gif" alt="" />


Kevin

Apparently the red also comes off with a little bit of use and some worn threads. That's right, it spun apart on me again today with only 400 miles on it. I have a Threadsert kit shipping out to me by Wed. I will let everyone know how it goes. Looks to be pretty complete and durable solution though. We'll see....

Wow.

Sucks.

John B.

Yeah it does, but then I didn't really feel 100% about it anyway. I do think this Thread-Sert thing is going to go well though. It was a bit costly, but it's a complete kit with drill bit, tap, sleeve sized to match the bolt in diameter, thread pitch AND threaded length, install tool and a rig to keep each step completely plumb and flush to the finish. I will try to remember to document it and if it works out well, I will post up a new thread about it. It seems a couple of other people have experienced the same thread stripping, so hopefully it will be useful. Lord knows I have been learning a lot already from here, hopefully I can give back by saving some others a little of the frustration I have seen the last two weeks.

My advice with that is..

Go Slow

Go Straight

Go Slow!!

Some simple fixturing could reduce the risk of drilling and tapping in place.

When drilling and tapping by hand a tool that helps a lot is a guide block. We had them each tap size to keep the tap straight. Most times we made these ourselves on a mill.

The same basic tool for the crank could be made on a lathe. One end pilots on the crank snout and the other guides the drill.

By using a bushing on the drill end you can can use the same tool to guide the tap. Drill bushings are an off the shelf item and are made of hardened steel.

Kevin

I agree Kevin, and I probably would have made or bought one if I needed to. One of the things that made me feel sure that Thread-sert makes the best kit for this job though is that the engineer I got to speak with said the kit comes with a guide tool to make sure the bit and tap both stay straight and true. I described in detail the size and shape of the crank nose and he said it will fit perfectly. We shall see some time in the next few hours though, whenever UPS gets here.

I'm pulling for ya, Dylan!

John B.

http://www.klr650.marknet.us/timesert.html

Is this the kit? The Thread-serts I have used were for sheet metal.

I still stand by my original advice. A tapping and drilling guide will attempt to insure that your parallel to the axis of rotation. Knowing where you are working and the limited area, there is a chance that you still end up drilling a little out off axis. Enlarging a hole with a drill can be tricky made worse by cast iron being a bit grabby.

That's why a guide bushing that pilots on the OD of the crank snout would reduce the chance of drilling off angle and off axis.

Also once a hole is off angle, tapping it straight becomes difficult. This is an area where you want as close to perfect threads as possible, with no angle loading

I know the job can be done with just hand tools, including a simple guide bushing, but a guide that constrains all degrees of freedom except the z axis reduces risk. In this case the stakes are very high.

In terms of degrees of freedom the bushing you are getting only constrains the off axis angle. The nose of the drill is being used to constrain X and Y. On an oval-ed out hole can make doing this challenging.

Have fun, drill away, but be really careful.



Kevin