Striped gearbox drain plug hole!

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roccotune

New Member
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Hi guys,

Decided to finish changing all the fluids to LR spec and put proper MTF94 in the gearbox, which has made the gear change lovely btw.

One problem, I managed to strip the drain plug hole of thread!!!

It's bunged up temporarily with chemical metal but it's showing signs of weeping :(

Anyone got any good ideas? I'm happy just to weld it up if I can find anyone with a tig as I normally use a pump to remove fluid and the car is on 160k anyway.

Thoughts appreciated,

Cheers

Chris
 
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roccotune said:
Hi guys,

Decided to finish changing all the fluids to LR spec and put proper MTF94 in the gearbox, which has made the gear change lovely btw.

One problem, I managed to strip the drain plug hole of thread!!!

It's bunged up temporarily with chemical metal but it's showing signs of weeping :(

Anyone got any good ideas? I'm happy just to weld it up if I can find anyone with a tig as I normally use a pump to remove fluid and the car is on 160k anyway.

Thoughts appreciated,

Cheers

Chris
Click to expand...

JB weld will do the job and is far better than chemical metal, that stuff is ****e.....
 
Last edited:
smnbyt said:
JB weld will do the job and is far better than chemical metal, that stuff is ****e.....
Click to expand...


Seems to have failed in this instance!

Just a drip so will last a good while but need a permanent solution.

I'm going to see if my local garage can weld it up, tap it a size up or helicoil etc but failing that I may have to drop the oil (again! And clean it up nice and try JB weld.

Cheers
 
Try fitting a 1/2" BSPT (Taper thread) plug which are available from all good Plumbers Merchants. As described, it's a taper thread and hopefully should tighten. Wrap some PTFE tape round the threads to seal, also available from the Plumbers merchants. Get the Galvanised plug.
Finally, don't go mad tightening it,there is no high pressure behind it.
 
Irishrover said:
Try fitting a 1/2" BSPT (Taper thread) plug which are available from all good Plumbers Merchants. As described, it's a taper thread and hopefully should tighten. Wrap some PTFE tape round the threads to seal, also available from the Plumbers merchants. Get the Galvanised plug.
Finally, don't go mad tightening it,there is no high pressure behind it.
Click to expand...


Not a bad idea that! Been looking for tapered repair plugs but not having much luck so far.

Anyone know the size of the original plug?

Cheers
 
Oh, you mean "stripped" ! I thought 'd never seen a striped one before. Conjured up all sorts of reasons in my mind as to why someone wanted to put stripes in a drain plug hole. So I decided to read the thread out of curiosity...................just to find it was simply a case of a missing "P".
 
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:hysterically_laughi
RealBeale said:
Oh, you mean "stripped" ! I thought 'd never seen a striped one before. Conjured up all sorts of reasons in my mind as to why someone wanted to put stripes in a drain plug hole. So I decided to read the thread out of curiosity...................just to find it was simply a case of a missing "P".
Click to expand...

he did not say striped he said strip LOL
 
The ideal situation is to drill & tap a new thread the next size up providing there is enough "Meat" around the hole to do this. Even if you were able to fit a Helicoil, this would require drilling and tapping the existing hole.
Using the epoxy type repair stuff, one of the main things to remember is that the area to which it is applied must be oil & grease free and achieving this given that it's a drain hole, there is always the probability that oil will drip from inside the box and finish up around or in the hole. In any event completely filling the drain hole will mean that it will be difficult to drain the box in future.
You could also drill & tap the hole the next diameter up, any thread and use a short hex. head bolt and copper washer to seal.
 
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Irishrover said:
The ideal situation is to drill & tap a new thread the next size up providing there is enough "Meat" around the hole to do this. Even if you were able to fit a Helicoil, this would require drilling and tapping the existing hole.
Using the epoxy type repair stuff, one of the main things to remember is that the area to which it is applied must be oil & grease free and achieving this given that it's a drain hole, there is always the probability that oil will drip from inside the box and finish up around or in the hole. In any event completely filling the drain hole will mean that it will be difficult to drain the box in future.
You could also drill & tap the hole the next diameter up, any thread and use a short hex. head bolt and copper washer to seal.
Click to expand...


Well I have ordered a whole host of stuff including your recommended plugs.

I have also ordered a tap set and a aluminium braising repair kit in case I decide to just patch over it. I can always fit a second drain plug on the patch.

Hopefully the repair will last until the weekend then I will get busy! Thanks lads
 
I had a similar situation, you have to make 100% sure there is no oil. I even drained the oil, lifted the car so high up it was almost on its side so the drain bung was up and put a load of brake cleaner in there and put some chemical metal in there. Waited untill it was 100% set but it still leaked.

Might be able to retap it or helecoil it. Not much space to play about with!

The only option I had would have been remove and weld it up then put my own drain hole in but in the end I just put a new one in an out my old gearbox in the shed for spares
 
Kizzeh said:
I had a similar situation, you have to make 100% sure there is no oil. I even drained the oil, lifted the car so high up it was almost on its side so the drain bung was up and put a load of brake cleaner in there and put some chemical metal in there. Waited untill it was 100% set but it still leaked.

Might be able to retap it or helecoil it. Not much space to play about with!

The only option I had would have been remove and weld it up then put my own drain hole in but in the end I just put a new one in an out my old gearbox in the shed for spares
Click to expand...



Well it's done!

Decided that a bodge wasn't going to cut it so I went the whole hog.


First I dropped the subframe for access

Then I drilled it with an 18mm drill to enlarge the hole

Next I got an m20x1.5 tap and re threaded the hole (took a bit of time as I should have used an 18.5mm drill but who has one of those!)

Finished off with a new sump plug and washer.

Filled up with oil and off we go! (May drain the oil again in the future to make sure no filings but did run a fair bit through before anyway)

Job done, total time hours and hours!!!

Be careful with those sump plugs lads :)

ehuba3eb.jpg


and the gloves helped....

jymyny3a.jpg
 
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