'87 XT600....3 long M6 bolts secure / seal the oil filter cover. I modified the one @ 6 o'clock to M8 when it stripped a couple years ago...now the one @ 10 o'clock is failing....any previous experience or advise ( other than less torque when installing!!). Thanks...DH

Ammendment: after posting this thread....several relavant links came up, which gave me a couple options...the best long term replace threads with Helicoils or "Time-sert"s.
Thanks all!

When, not if this happens to mine i'll tap out to m8 if necessary and fix a stud in the hole(s) then use washers and nuts. No need to worry then.

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Be the person your dog thinks you are.

I suggest you do a search in here on the key words for other discussion of this topic; there is reputed to be an oilway at the end of one (or more?) of those bolts - no personal experience of this, but I remember the posts about such oilways - news to me. Perhaps not every model has the oilway?!

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Dave

A good point well presented!

I should have said to make sure the bolts you fix in are no longer than the originals! Taking into account the thickness of the filter cover itself.

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Be the person your dog thinks you are.

after you do this, don't forget to use a new o-ring on the filter cover. with a good o-ring, you don't need to torque the bolts very much to get a good seal. (same goes for the tappet covers!)

Phil

you could allways get a insert put in like a hellicoil or buy a kit yourself it comes with a drill bit a tap the tool for inserting them and a few of the inserts then you can still use the original size bolts for the cover other wise you will have to drill out the cover too

sorry just read the edited bit

I know this is an old post, but who knows, someone may need this info. I had the same problem and the helicoil repair works well. I did it myself with NO problems.

Good to hear this! On mine the top-right bolt is starting to feel a bit soft, and I reckon next time I change the filter it will strip. I haven't used a helicoil before, but I'm sure I would be OK with it. What concerns me is the length of the bolt - the threaded part is a long way into the cover. Do you have to remove the engine side casing to get at the thread, or is it accessible by just removing the oil filter cover?

XT600E.

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2006 XT660R daily ride, 1994 XT600E about to be reborn, Blog: http://goingfastgettingnowhere.blogspot.com/

Hi BDZ,
When mine stripped, I bought a 7mm tap and bolt for the bolt @ 6 o'clock, the bolt was a set screw, thread all the way which did not interfere with the oil gallery.
Top bolts do not have oil galleries and can be tapped out. I used GREASE on my tap and cleaned after every 1 turn, in this way all the fillings from the tap stayed on the grease and I did not need to split the motor.
Remember, this is a slow process with lots of grease on the Tap even every half a turn. Not conventional, but worked for me.

Cheers from Oz.

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I'm not getting older; I'm just progressing through LIFE!! Harleys do not have a throttle- they have VOLUME control!!!

This is from memory, but I think the bolt I am talking about is around 50mm long and is only threaded for the first 25mm or so. The unthreaded part passes through the filter cover and part of the engine case before it engages a thread further in. That would in theory make it impossible to helicoil without taking away the part it passes through to get to the top of the thread (hope that makes sense). I could be making all this up, of course. Memory isn't what it was, and I have done a lot on other bikes since I last worked on the Yam.

It's a job I plan to do over the winter now the XT has been retired from active service, and I thought I would get ahead of the game. When I next get a day off (not for a while, unfortunately) I will pull the bolt in question and come back to you.

Thanks.

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2006 XT660R daily ride, 1994 XT600E about to be reborn, Blog: http://goingfastgettingnowhere.blogspot.com/

"This is from memory, but I think the bolt I am talking about is around 50mm long and is only threaded for the first 25mm or so. The unthreaded part passes through the filter cover and part of the engine case before it engages a thread further in. That would in theory make it impossible to helicoil without taking away the part it passes through to get to the top of the thread"

Correct. Bear in mind that the hole for the bottom screw is through to the inside of the engine and, that bolt is a drain 'plug' and is under oil pressure from the pump. Oil can leak into the engine. And out.
The folly of simply tightening something if it leaks is here well demonstrated, as is the cavalier drilling out and fitting ever larger components
Use new o rings to avoid damage to threads. Most places there are bearing suppliers and they usually have a selection of o rings.

p

Your description of the bolts being only part threaded is true of the 4PT as well. I guess such an arrangement would be common to both older and newer engines. F.i. the part numbers of the bolts for the 4PT are 90109-06419 x 1 at 3 o'clock, and 91317-06080 x 2 for 10 o'clock and 7 o'clock positions. A search of a parts catalogue may come up with the illustrations. I am unable to copy the page from my pdf copy to accompany this post.

Hope this is not a red herring.

Pete/pusser, thanks for this information. It wasn't me that overtightened it, honest! The bike had a hard life under its eleventy-two previous owners, and I am slowly bringing it back to good, useable condition. Helicoiling a known weakness will be part of that process.

The bike will be taken off the road formally soon, and I will get working on it over the winter. I am happy to dismantle as necessary, but I thought I would tap someone's previous experience while the idea was under discussion.

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2006 XT660R daily ride, 1994 XT600E about to be reborn, Blog: http://goingfastgettingnowhere.blogspot.com/

here is my fix on the six o clock bolt

Attached Thumbnails

 

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I am the thread killer.

I just helicoiled the thread for the oil filter cover bolt at 2 o'clock on my 2003 XT. I'm not especially knowledgeable about mechanics but I found it a fairly easy job. I've outlined what I did below in case anyone is less informed than I am! I make no claims as to whether this is the 'correct' procedure or my terminology is right!

First drained the oil out of the bike. I then removed the right footrest and brake pedal (two bolts and a spring from the rear brakelight switch). I also took the rear footbreak switch off the frame to clear the way a bit.

I then unhooked the clutch cable - using the jaws of an adjustable spanner to move the clutch actuating arm and unhooked the cable with some needlenose pliers. Then zip-tied it out of the way.

I then removed the bolt on the top of the crank case cover which secures an oil pipe which I'm not sure of the purpose of! (It could be a breather pipe, I guess)

Then removed the little bolt below the clutch arm which holds it in place and pulled out the clutch arm from the crank case cover.

Then undid all the allen bolts holding the crankcase cover in place and removed the cover. The gasket, as expected, came to pieces as I removed the cover. It is important to note which bolts go in which holes, as they are not all the same length.

I then drilled out the hole using the bit supplied in my helicoil kit, tapped the hole with tap supplied, inserted the coil (also using the tool etc.), snapped off the wee arm on the end of the heliciol with the tool provided and retrieved it from the hole using a small magnetic ended philips screwdriver (probably unecessary).

I noted that while the crankcase was threaded as expected, at the back of the hole was around 5mm of intact thread. So if you strip one of these threads in the crankcase, the suggestion someone made above to fit a slightly longer bolt (say 5mm longer) should work OK, at least in the short term.

I then whacked it all back together using a new gasket, put some new oil & a filter in the bike and dashed off to get a chicken from sainsbury's.

Both bike and roast chicken were great.

Matt

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