Modern Buddy

I have given it full force on the BLUR 220. The screw on the belly that drains the oil is striped and it isn't coming loose. I'm no gear head so if anyone has a suggestion to pry it loose or knows a tool please help. I'm just a guy trying to change some oil round here.

Try clamping a pair of vise grip pliers onto the bolt and then pull it downwards while loosening. This might force the remaining intact thread to "catch".

Accepting that the threads are stripped, I also think you should be able to get the drain plug out with vice grips. The bigger question is whether you would still have threads in the bottom of the case. Probably not, which means it will be time to put a helicoil insert in the case brfore you can insert a new drain plug - or thread the case for an oversized drain bolt.

There is another screw on the side that I didn't know about. I took it out that way and it was super easy. Also changed the oil filter. So fun to tinker with this scooter. Cheers Everyone.

I think you've lost me here. Did you mean you had stripped the threads on the lower drain bolt, or did you mean that you had just rounded the shoulders on the hex head? (if the threads are truly stripped, I presume the plug will not seal)

I just rounded the corners on the hex. But still would like to know how to take it off at some point.

Using vice grips as discussed above would be plan A. If that fails, using an easy out (bolt extracter) is the next step up in capability. You would need the right size easy out bit and would need to drill a pilot hole in the damaged bolt (drain plug).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMrDYJvY0Ts

SevenhertZ wrote:I just rounded the corners on the hex. But still would like to know how to take it off at some point.

Try a correctly sized 6 point socket.....the 12 point sockets do tend to round off the edges.....the six point socket puts the load on the flat of the hex.

Rob

Use a vice grip and a bar extender or breaker bar. I have a pipe from an old chain link fence that I use. The longer the bar for leverage, the more torque, the easier those bolts come off. For screws, I always use an impact driver because otherwise I will strip them.

About 3 years ago on my 220 I installed an aftermarket aluminum oil plug, for the primary reason of its magnetic insert. The very first change after that, the softer aluminum hex protrusion crumbled immediately upon turning it with the proper sized socket applied. It not only crumbled like a cookie, it took enough of the material with it to produce a needle hole sized leak in the bottom of the plug, so I needed to fix it soon.

I tried grabbing the rim and other parts with various vice grip combinations, notching the rim to try to knock it off with a hammer and chisel, etc., all of which didn't budge it. I just couldn't grab enough surface area in any case.

I started by resolving that I would fix it and not ride it to a mechanic or machine shop and risk being stranded, so I went ahead and drilled it out with a small bit to drain the oil, get the hole dry enough to not slip with an ease-out bit, and tried the smallest appropriate ease-out, which just crumbled the metal even further.

Eventually repeated this with increasingly larger ease-outs, all of which crumbled the metal when I turned them slowly to try to break it free. Finally got it by using something like a 3/8ths ease-out, lightly tapping it up into place with a hammer, applying a vice-grip to the ease-out, and striking vice-grip sharply instead of turning slowly, and it broke free.

You could make the case that i over tightened the plug, which is possible but just not likely given my usual caution. I believe that aluminum was retempered somewhat by repeated heating from long rides and splashing with puddle water, etc. and changed it to a more brittle constitution.

In the end I dropped the factory plug back in, but soldered my own rare earth magnet in the bottom and it has been great for three years.

Apologies for the long post, but I would have really liked to have read this experience from someone else when I had to deal with it.