Oil Drain Timesert Repair

I finally picked up the Harbor Freight Bike Lift. There's a coupon in Cycle World (or Motorcyclist) for $299. This is a no brainer and I'll parrot what I've heard EVERY other person who has gotten one of these, "Why didn't I get this sooner!?!?"

I have had a constant little leak under the bike. The oil drain plug doesn't tighten and feels like it's one more turn from stripping. TIme to fix.


I had a Timesert 3/8 x 16 SAE kit from Amazon. $68.70 with shipping. Enough to do 5 Nortons, luckily there are only 4 in the family so they will all get this. :mrgreen:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001JK23O6/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Additional inserts are about $1.50 ea.


The victim, er, suspect.


First step, drill out. I was leery of just using a tap wrench.


I put some grease on the drill bit to catch any swarf. Once the drill got started it followed the hole exactly. By using your hand you can feel when it bites and lines up.


The drill is extremely sharp so it cuts easily.


Step two is the countersink.


Note the shoulder on the bit.


Drill until the shoulder hits the outside of the hole. It takes a little while so this part took the longest time.


Countersink.


Next up is the tap, again with grease. I was swabbing the hole after each step to keep it as clean as possible.


Once the tap started it went smoothly.


Oversize threads.


I used motor oil.


Fit the insert to the insertion tool.


Simply thread it into the hole.


Once the bushing hits the countersink, the tool threads through and pushes the end of the insert out locking it to the hole. Between the countersink and locked end the insert should never come out. They say if you do need to remove it an easyout should work.


All done, a thousand times better than original. I put about a 1/2 quart in the oil tank and hopefully it will wet sump and drain out taking any debris with it. I'll check it in a couple days. If nothing comes out I'll pour more oil in the rockers.

Nice work on the 'cert. Regarding the lift, I bought one a couple years ago and my back and knees thanks me. One thing I was constantly doing was raising it with the removable ramp attached. It starts to bend if you do that. I wrote on the lift and release pedals. "RAMP" in big black letters so I would remember to remove it first before lifting.

I have been taking the ramp off too. Just not in that shot.

Dave....just a thought...when I finished my oil drain repair I bent some Q-tips into an "L" shape and carefully swirled around up in the case an caught the last of the stray swarf which stuck to the Q-tip quite nicely.

Thanks for the post and the great pics; I don't like the feel of my drain plug either.

With so many fine threads everywhere else, why those coarse ones there? Maybe cause folks cross thread stuff that's upside down?

Just dreaming about thw swarf, maybe another final step, after the Q Tip or bent pipe cleaner ideas, bend an L into the end of an aerosol parts cleaner straw and spray the walls so that the cleaner floods back down and washes out anything remaining. Or, maybe just pour 6 or 8 ounces of kerosene down the pushrod tunnel to flood anything out.

I'll definitely wait for the oil to drain and flush out any bits.

I'll try the bent Q-tip too.

fine threads in aluminum does not work. look at every one of the studs that thread into the case's or the stud's in the head.

xbacksideslider said:

With so many fine threads everywhere else, why those coarse ones there?

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Great Pix and write up. Must get me one of those lifts some day.

During the middle of the U.S. recession there were a number of Handy lifts for sale from shops that went under. The Handy lift is far superior to the Harbor Freight lift and good used ones can be had for about the same money. Handy is USA origin.

JimC said:

During the middle of the U.S. recession there were a number of Handy lifts for sale from shops that went under. The Handy lift is far superior to the Harbor Freight lift and good used ones can be had for about the same money. Handy is USA origin.

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Very true. However, there were about 1500 shadetree mechanics and chrome worshippers for every Handy sold at auction, so not a lot of joy. I wanted to buy American, Handy was re-structuring when I bought, and when they came back, $1500 was the fee. :shock:

http://southcoast.craigslist.org/mcy/3760398585.html

Handy lift with extensions. Looks to be about 100 miles from you. $350. Might want to check it out.

JimC said:

http://southcoast.craigslist.org/mcy/3760398585.html

Handy lift with extensions. Looks to be about 100 miles fro you. $350. Might want to check it out.

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Great deal for someone!

While you can always wait for those deals they are not that common.

I purchased one of those motorcycle lifts about 14 years ago from Northern Tool Supply. Mine looks very much like the one you have and it still works fine. What I suggest you get is a motorcycle jack that works with a motorcycle lift. I found mine on ebay, there are a lot of companies that make them. It makes the lift a whole lot better. You need to drill holes in the lift's table to mount the jack. You may also want to add tie down attach points towards the rear of your lift. Here is a picture of my jack on my lift:

PeterJoe said:

I purchased one of those motorcycle lifts about 14 years ago from Northern Tool Supply. Mine looks very much like the one you have and it still works fine. What I suggest you get is a motorcycle jack that works with a motorcycle lift. I found mine on ebay, there are a lot of companies that make them. It makes the lift a whole lot better. You need to drill holes in the lift's table to mount the jack. You may also want to add tie down attach points towards the rear of your lift. Here is a picture of my jack on my lift:

Click to expand...

norton-motorcycle-lift-t16174.html

Great Instructions . . . thanks for posting this.

What's wrong with this picture . . . I was doing the wet sump routine and was looking at the end of the plug for any "fuzz" and I kept trying to wipe the "white stuff" off the threads . . . and then I started thinking, "there shouldn't be any white stuff on these threads". Put my old man glasses on and found out that ain't white stuff. The bike seems to let me take exactly one ride per "Tinkering Task" . . . I was kind of hoping for 2 rides per . . . I shant complain too much, as I don't want it to be 2 tasks per ride.

Ya I didn't like the chance of that stripping so I got one of those stainless sump plugs with the drain plug in it. Didn't like having to rely on the sealing washer every time I drained it due to wet dumping etc so I drilled out the the threads and tapped it for a 1/8th inch TPTF plug (tapered pipe thread fuel). This way nothing going into the alloy cases needs to come out and the TPTF plug seals without needing tape, thread sealer or anything and even though it will never come out due to vibration I safety wire it all. Clean, safe & no drips!!

swooshdave said:

I have had a constant little leak under the bike. The oil drain plug doesn't tighten and feels like it's one more turn from stripping. TIme to fix.

I had a Timesert 3/8 x 16 SAE kit from Amazon. $68.70 with shipping. Enough to do 5 Nortons, luckily there are only 4 in the family so they will all get this.

Click to expand...

When I Look at Time Sert's website it seems you can buy different lengths of that "insert" piece . . . how do you determine which length to get . . . or did you?
Thanks, MarkR

FWIW I measured the drain plug hole depth (on a 750 crankcase) at 9/16" or 14mm

The magnetic section on the drain plug sticks up into the cases a few more mm's.

I have had to re-helicoil my 74-engine oil drain. Originally the helicoil tap was installed nice and square but the helicoil was not by the PO or Mechanic who worked on it which kicked the oil drain plug off on an angle. I pulled the old one out and reinserted the new helicoil when the engine was rebuilt. Now no leaks. I use the newer Andover Norton oil plug sump filter with the drain plug added http://www.nortonmotors.de/ANIL/Norton% ... art=067281
Works a treat.
Cheers,
Thomas
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