Modern Buddy

Hi folks,

I can't find anything when I search, so here's my dilemma.

Doing an oil change, changing the gear oil. Just drained it, and cleaned off the bolt. Trying to put the bolt back in, but I can't get it tight. The washer appears flush with the opening, but the bolt is still loose!

Please tell me somebody has an idea!

Thanks much,
Red Cass

did it start to feel tight and then go loose? I'm just wondering if it might have gotten stripped

are we talking the drain plug for the engine or the gearbox? oh dear NOT TOO GOOD ether way... if the drain plug threads are gone get another plug,,, if the threads in the engine are gone you have yourself something a good tech needs to fix... gee read the title my bad... gearbox,,, not much,,, pressure

BY NO MEANS IS THIS A FIX OR SHOULD THE BIKE BE DRIVEN,,, with that said,,, take some telflon plumbers tape and see if that well keep it from leaking out, on the floor,,, it should if you do not over tighten again, just get it snug... try running bike on stand to see if its going to leak... most likely not... BUT DONT YOU GET YOUR REAR ON THAT SEAT AND TAKE OFF THINKING ITS FIXED... IT WILL COME OUT!!! this is just to keep it from making a mess untill you get it fixed...

GET ANOTHER PLUG!!!!! It sounds stripped. And it will fall out.

=)

Did the plug start going in vey stiffly? You might have cross theaded the plug. That would cause the plug not to tighten down as well.

Thanks everybody.

It does appear to be stripped -- the gear oil drain plug, that is.

It's the first time I'm changing the gear oil myself. My first oil change was at a dealer (break-in service), then I changed the engine oil myself the next time, but didn't change the gear oil.

The plug/bolt was REALLY snug when we removed it, so the nice folks at Scooterworks service said it was probably tightened too hard at the last change. {grumble}

Fortunately, they recommended a scooter shop in Ithaca NY, where I'm moving to on Wednesday. That shop is going to rethread this for me sometime in the coming week.

It'll be rough to take that long off, particularly when the weather's so divine, but I need a fix, so.....

In case any readers are new to changing their gear oil--don't over tighten the drain bolt, or this will be you!

For my future reference: how tight do YOU tighten the gear oil drain belt during a change?

Peace out,
RedCass

In case I wasn't clear -- the bolt itself looks fine, not stripped, so getting a new bolt would not suffice.

I don't know what the recommended setting for the gear oil drain bolt is in the Buddy and I tend not to trust the numbers given in the service/maintenance manuals for my Blur.

You can get round this problem by making a witness mark on the bolt head and gear case (after it's been fixed and re-tightened by the dealer) with something sharp, like a scratch awl. When you go to re-tighten the bolt after removing it, all you have to do is line up these two marks to insure that it's properly set. Of course, you'd first have to get the bolt snugged up before doing the final alignment.

charlie55 wrote:I don't know what the recommended setting for the gear oil drain bolt is in the Buddy and I tend not to trust the numbers given in the service/maintenance manuals for my Blur.

You can get round this problem by making a witness mark on the bolt head and gear case (after it's been fixed and re-tightened by the dealer) with something sharp, like a scratch awl. When you go to re-tighten the bolt after removing it, all you have to do is line up these two marks to insure that it's properly set. Of course, you'd first have to get the bolt snugged up before doing the final alignment.

ohmigod, that's freakin' brilliant.

gracias!

If you thought that was brilliant, tune in for my next weekly tip: "Locating hot exhaust pipes in zero visibility conditions".

i`ve found getting the drain plug bolt set even then lightly pressing in until
you feel it "set" in the treads, gently turn it into the threads until it bite, so as not to cross-thread, ( this took me a few times, and i`m an old lube jockey) ,, right-iee tight-iee

charlie55 wrote:If you thought that was brilliant, tune in for my next weekly tip: "Locating hot exhaust pipes in zero visibility conditions".

last time I give you a compliment, Charlie

But I put so much work into it: the sounds of sizzling flesh, a cranium rebounding off the handlebars into a Honda Odyssey, all topped off with the stringing together of 50 or so choice expletives as tools fly through the air towards their inevitable doom. In other words, a typical maintenance session in my garage.

charlie55 wrote:But I put so much work into it: the sounds of sizzling flesh, a cranium rebounding off the handlebars into a Honda Odyssey, all topped off with the stringing together of 50 or so choice expletives as tools fly through the air towards their inevitable doom. In other words, a typical maintenance session in my garage.

I'm stuck on 'sizzling flesh'

owie.

I had the exact same problem with my gear oil screw plug...left it as is and rode my scooter. Somewhere the plug jiggled all the way out and the gear oil drained. The amount of damage is tremendous and very expensive! Get a new gear oil plug.....pay to have a scooter dealer change the oil so they are responsible if it falls out.

jvanbez wrote:pay to have a scooter dealer change the oil so they are responsible if it falls out.

Sure, if you have a dealer in driving distance.

And, having a dealer do the oil change (in a town over an hour away) is what caused this problem for me in the first place. The dealer tightened the bolt too far.

redcass wrote:For my future reference: how tight do YOU tighten the gear oil drain belt during a change?

Here is the relevent page from the Buddy Manual. They say 1.8 Kg-M. That converts (I think) to 13.0 foot-pounds or 17.6 Newton-meters. No wonder folks get confused. Can someone please check my maths and make sure I haven't screwed up? It looks right, but I'd rather someone give it a check. Thanks.

Your numbers check out fine. For future convenience, here's an online converter app for torque:

http://www.onlineconversion.com/torque.htm

lb-ft = 7.23 * kg-m

N-m = 9.81 * kg-m

Looks right to me.