I tighten mine about 12 ft lb with a beam torque wrench. That is plenty tight. It has never come loose.
That big of a thread should take 40 ft lbs without stripping. but it darn sure sounds like the threads stretched. Coulda been the gasket compressing. IDK I never tighten that much on mine. What I do know is you might have the gasket squashed onto the threads if you crushed it that hard. That happened to me and i had to cut the gasket off. I tighten my plug so gently, I have been using the same gasket for the last 7 years.
-so what do you guys think? Man up and loosen and then re-tighten with my new spendy torque wrench to 90% of manual torque or leave it until the oil needs to be changed and then see if I am fucked then?
90% nothing!!! I never torque any external things to spec. Use locktight if you think it will come loose (although probably not a good choice for an oil plug). You will be taking these bolts in and out a hundred times and that's thread wear every time. If you don't work on the bike much, that is the reason for full torque. I use aluminum bolts as much as I can and that forces me to go with 60% torque or maybe less. If it really needs 70%+ specced torque, aluminum is out of the question.
I think it would take 50-60 ft lbs to maybe strip that M10 thread. It's not deep but 40 ft lbs wouldn't do it.
Take a wrench with you when you ride for a while just in case it loosens.
Check softly with a wrench after you do a short ride. Don't check hard and turn it again. If it is stretched or stripped let it stay as tight as it can be on it's own. Why wear the threads to check it?
if it is in fact stripped....do I get a used pan off ebay?
I would. Look closely at pics. Ebay's pretty strict about selling damaged used stuff now, I hear. Sucks for sellers.
If the threads are loose from stretching, you could probably get away with using a small amount of plumbers tape and that will snug it up. Keep the tape below the inside of the oil pan. I guess a dot of locktite on the top two threads would suffice if you clean all oil off both threads. Try removing whatever sealant you might use before threading in the plug again. Crumbs would be stopped by your pickup screen but that would eventually clog the screen.
You could repair that with a thread repair plug. Basically a threaded M16 plug with new M10 threads in the center. Drill out and tap the old hole for M16 and thread in the donut. I'm sure you use some kind of permanent locktight for the repair threads. OR drill out and thread to M12 and use any M12 bolt as a plug.
I'm guessing on all of these thread sizes so check before you order anything.
How hard did you turn the plug? 30 ft lbs should not damage those threads but it is way too tight and could be a bitch to get out.
* Last updated by: Rook on 8/18/2018 @ 4:33 PM *