I noticed today that oil is coming out of my tappet bolt. it is the bolt that you can take out to check the oil screen, big bolt below the air cleaner. i went to adjust it and it is crossthreaded. what can i do to fix this or am I completely screwed?

 

it is the top bolt in the pic

 

Only fix that I know if is to re-tap it. You will also need to change your oil a couple times to get the shavings out of the crank case.

 

Ah well, like the old saying goes "cross threads are better than no threads".
Gilly

 

have you tried to remove the bolt, if it will turn but won't tighten then it might be stripped out. can you get a helicoil in it. Maybe a good indy shop has seen this before and has a fix for you. I wouldn't expect a HD dealer service to fix this but then I've been wrong before. Good luck

 

i can take the bolt out but when i try to screw it in it shifts slightly and gets really tight.

 

Remove the bolt and chase the threads in the hole with a tap. Either run a die over the threads of the bolt if they're not too bad or buy a new bolt. This should work if it's not too bad, otherwise you'd be looking at a helicoil insert. Drop your oil and flush hole with oil to run out any metal particles. Best of luck.

 

Grease the tap with heavy wheel bearing grease and pull out to clean it frequently. This will minimize the amount of metal falling into the engine.

 

do i need to drill or file the remaining threads? or should i just tap it? would using a telescoping pen like tool that has a magnet on the end help get out the metal shavings? thanks for life saving tips.

 

you sure it is not just the bolt?