Cross threaded trans drain plug
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Driver School Candidate
Joined: Apr 2020
Posts: 18
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From: Ca
Cross threaded trans drain plug
Hi all so I believe when I last did my trans fluid change I must have cross threaded the bolt by accident as the bolt will not go straight in how it should. What steps should I take to fix this issue. Re tap the threads? New bolt? Oversized bolt? Thanks
Lead Lap
Joined: Nov 2019
Posts: 3,688
Likes: 1,101
From: Michigan
Hello,
A picture of the Damaged Thread, as well as the Plug would be helpful.
The solution would depend heavily on the Kind, and the Amount of damage that was done when the Plug was Cross Threaded. If you can still see a properly shaped thread, you should be able to clean it up with a Chaser, but you will have to pay careful attention to not only the Angle at which you are threading it, but also the Beginning of the Thread Winding to ensure that you won't tap a third thread in there. That said, outside of Time-Sert Drivers that seem to be quite tough, I am yet to find an actual, good quality Thread Chaser, every one that I've seen usually ends up being softer than whatever it is I am trying to correct, even Project Farm didn't help much, as unusual as it is..
If, however, you literally tapped a new thread at a different angle, your only option would be to tap a New Thread, but you do have to keep in mind that the Walls of the threaded insert in those pans tend to be very Thin, so you won't have a whole lot of meat to work with, any deviation from the axis may end up destroying the pan beyond repair. Seeing that there isn't too much material on hand, it will have to be either an Imperial 7/16 size Bolt, or a Helicoil, depending on what you can source.
Before starting with the Repair, however, I would suggest to look through some local Junkyards and Marketplaces to see if you could just find a replacement Pan anywhere, chances of anyone needing it are only getting smaller, but simply replacing the entire Pan would likely be the simplest option in your case, as you will have to take it off regardless if you are planning on tapping a new Thread, not to mention that a New Pan will likely cost less than what they charge for a good quality Thread Repair Kit..
Hope this helps and best of luck!
A picture of the Damaged Thread, as well as the Plug would be helpful.
The solution would depend heavily on the Kind, and the Amount of damage that was done when the Plug was Cross Threaded. If you can still see a properly shaped thread, you should be able to clean it up with a Chaser, but you will have to pay careful attention to not only the Angle at which you are threading it, but also the Beginning of the Thread Winding to ensure that you won't tap a third thread in there. That said, outside of Time-Sert Drivers that seem to be quite tough, I am yet to find an actual, good quality Thread Chaser, every one that I've seen usually ends up being softer than whatever it is I am trying to correct, even Project Farm didn't help much, as unusual as it is..
If, however, you literally tapped a new thread at a different angle, your only option would be to tap a New Thread, but you do have to keep in mind that the Walls of the threaded insert in those pans tend to be very Thin, so you won't have a whole lot of meat to work with, any deviation from the axis may end up destroying the pan beyond repair. Seeing that there isn't too much material on hand, it will have to be either an Imperial 7/16 size Bolt, or a Helicoil, depending on what you can source.
Before starting with the Repair, however, I would suggest to look through some local Junkyards and Marketplaces to see if you could just find a replacement Pan anywhere, chances of anyone needing it are only getting smaller, but simply replacing the entire Pan would likely be the simplest option in your case, as you will have to take it off regardless if you are planning on tapping a new Thread, not to mention that a New Pan will likely cost less than what they charge for a good quality Thread Repair Kit..
Hope this helps and best of luck!
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