First time doing the three hole oil change. Everything was going great until I tried to remove the derby cover and the T27 bolt head sheered right off. All the other loosened up without any issue.
Dealer can’t get me in until 4/2 and I just don’t have the tools to do this myself.
Pressed on with the primary oil change since I’d already drained it. Dealer service said shouldn’t be an issue to just finish the job.
Till all is said and done I’ll be $300-$400 into this oil change. So much for saving money.
$200 for oil and filter
$20 for gaskets, o-rings, and primary funnel
X Hours Labor TBD at $102.00/hr
When I was going my 3-hole service Friday afternoon, all I could keep thinking about is this danged thread
As is my normal practice, the primary cover torx head screws were replaced with black button heads from the local Fastenal Store. I picked up some appropriately sized flat washers from Atwoods Farm and Home (hint look for the metric size ones - 8mm if memory serves me correctly).
Two things I've learned over the last few years...........
Number1: The Formula + works fine as gear oil, but that shixx is hard to see on that danged chrome transmission dip stick. I have to wrap a piece of tape on the thing just to see where the oil level actually is.
Number 2: Never let the oil and grease monkey at the Harley dealership put an oil filter on. You'll literally need a breaker bar to get it off after 5K miles.
Every Harley I have owned/worked on I always replace those shitty T 27 screws with 3/16 Allen heads. They stick out just a smidge more, but you can put an honest to God allen head in them and break them loose with no stripping. I have had zero issues since replacing those screws.
Nicolas “Maverick” Mayo
Chattanooga, TN
John 15:13
Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends
I had this happen in the past (97 fatboy) and I was able to reach inside and continue to thread it through. I recall having rags and such inside to catch the broken bolt if I dropped it.
First time doing the three hole oil change. Everything was going great until I tried to remove the derby cover and the T27 bolt head sheered right off. All the other loosened up without any issue.
Dealer can’t get me in until 4/2 and I just don’t have the tools to do this myself.
Pressed on with the primary oil change since I’d already drained it. Dealer service said shouldn’t be an issue to just finish the job.
Till all is said and done I’ll be $300-$400 into this oil change. So much for saving money.
$200 for oil and filter
$20 for gaskets, o-rings, and primary funnel
X Hours Labor TBD at $102.00/hr
Yeah this happened to me. I did have the tools to drill it out.
The way to avoid this is to replace all these screws with allen bolts, they come in chrome at your local True Value hardware.
If the nub was too short to turn it out, my next step would be to weld a 1/4 nut onto the nub. Just hold the nut against the nub and weld it down through the nut. TIG would be nice and clean, MIG will require covering everything but the nut. Then spin it out while its still hot.
One of the problems with chroming things is hydrogen embrittlement.
Its a nasty side effect of the electroplating process and if the product was not annealed afterwords, will cause this issue. I used to work in a metal finishing facility, and you could take a chrome plated casting of significant size, and toss it to the floor and it would go to pieces like a flung ice cube. After annealing the problem was cured. This is probably what happened to your screw. Glad it all worked out.
Easy out gets my vote also, intimidating at first, and then it's out and your like hmmmm why didn't I do this sooner
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