Is There A Fix for This?

cpurvis said:

In picture #5, you can see a passage that may be blocked by a threaded pipe which extends further into the engine.

If the engine has access to use a vacuum oil extractor, I'd put a brass plug into that damaged hole and never take it out again.

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I suppose I could pull the old oil up the filler tube, but other than that I do not know of a way to access the crankcase. Kinda like the idea of just plugging that hole.

Berniebac said:

Yes the nipple is fine. It is just that it broke the aluminum out of the engine block.

As suggested above, having a longer threaded end on the nipple might be all that is needed to get it to go into the housing a little further.

I did use a set of vice grips on the pipe when turning the cap off but it sure seemed like it broke away from the housing very easily.

I appreciate your suggestions and I think I will try a combination of a little longer threaded nipple and some JB Weld to put the broken piece back on. I can't see any moving parts inside the engine that would be affected by having the nipple thread into the housing a little deeper.

That nipple is 1/2" inside diameter and I know a shop that threads them so they might be able to help me out by extending the threads.

Thanks so much for your help.

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Longer threads is not really the fix, but rather, a tad smaller on the diameter. (the threads may need to be longer as well,tho.)
The tapped hole and threaded nipple are tapered, so you either need to make the hole a bit larger (not my first choice) or
make the threads on the nipple a bit smaller.

As for breaking off easily, it is possible that the nipple had been screwed int the block too far, and the tapered thread weakened or cracked the casting.

Good luck!

Ronno6 said:

Longer threads is not really the fix, but rather, a tad smaller on the diameter. (the threads may need to be longer as well,tho.)
The tapped hole and threaded nipple are tapered, so you either need to make the hole a bit larger (not my first choice) or
make the threads on the nipple a bit smaller.

As for breaking off easily, it is possible that the nipple had been screwed int the block too far, and the tapered thread weakened or cracked the casting.

Good luck!

Click to expand...

Yes I see what you are saying with the tapered threads. They will not thread further into the fitting because they come up against the outer part of the housing first. I think it will be JB weld and a new brass fitting. I think I will try a brass fitting that I can solder a copper pipe onto and put the bayonet valve on the end as mentioned above. Then it will be just open the valve and drain away.

Keep in mind that the bottom of the now-broken drain tube determined how much of the oil will be left in the crankcase. If you add a tube to a plug, now the bottom of the tube determines how much oil is left.

Admittedly, this may be a small amount of oil but the more of the old oil you get out, the better.

I was reluctant about using vacuum oil extractors. In this case, I'd bet that the extractor will get more of the oil out. I have one vehicle that I know the extractor gets more oil out than draining and one that gets at least as much as draining. Plus, there's no drain pan needed. I would guess the oil filler tube on your engine would work for this.

Dremel has a carbon weave cutoff wheel that would even out the ends of that thread back to flat by slicing off the broken section sticking out. It cuts that chinese aluminum pot metal pretty cleanly.

I decided to use the JB Weld and I found a plug from a 311700 16 HP motor that fits in the drain hole. The threads in the housing are tapered to match the threads in the original nipple and the plug that I found also has tapered threads so it fits in nice and tight.

When I tried a brass plumbing fitting it would only go into the housing a couple turns, then it would hit the tapered threads and stop so it did not seem to be a very tight connection. I don't trust it to stand up to much vibration or the chance that it could be bumped and pop out of place, so I think the drain plug is the better solution. I will have to make or pick up one of those drain sleeves to get the oil to drain out beyond the frame of the tractor.

Now to get the engine back in the tractor. At least I can change my drive belt while I am at it.