Crankshaft Galley Plug Replacement
By
Dan Nelson

Flakes, flecks, chips, shavings, etc, all showed up in the oil and on oil screen at the last oil change. I cut open the filter to see what was in there and there is a pic of a section of filter paper that shows the fine pieces that went through the pump.

I dropped the engine out somewhat following the factory service manual. Had to make a stand to hold the bike up once the center stand was removed, and a little jig to hold the swingarm from falling down. Once the engine was on the bench, I took off the horizontal cylinder and could see the plug rubbing on the side of the main bearing. It's not real easy to see what's going on through that crankcase opening, however. I made a cradle of 2x4s to hold it alternator side up and took off alternator cover and all internals. Split the cases next, and then it was easy to see the plug (pic). The plug was just about half as thick as the new one.

Ordered a head gasket kit ($30) from Montana Harley/Buell/Ducati in Missoula (my closest dealer), but they didn't have the plug. I called BCM and they sent it right out. $5 for the plug, $9.50 shipping!? Then I ordered some Threebond 1211 after doing some research and figuring that's what I wanted. Yama/Hondabond probably would have worked, but I didn't want to offend it's sensibilities.

Ordered a Nichols light flywheel ($130) to replace the chunk (pic) that was in there That's 6.25 pounds on that scale.

Put it all back together, Loctiting the plug in this time. I made an adapter out of an old wrench and socket to torque the heads. The manual states torque-ing in 3 steps, the final one to be done after in has been "run in". I wish I would have just done all three on the bench because it was impossible to get the wrench on the horizontal cylinder after it was installed and started--I just had to guess it.

So far, so good.

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