Ironhead Stripped generator threads

[PARKESBURG9]

After my ride to work yesterday I noticed I had lost my top generator mounting bolt and I found that both holes in the generator were stripped.

I managed to retap the holes to a course thread and installed longer bolts (all I had here at work) with some spacers as a temporary fix to get home and until I order the correct bolts from j&p. I need to order some other stuff so I’ll piggy back them on the order to save on shipping.

My thought is to clock the generator a few degrees and drill & tap new holes for the mounting bolts. Has anyone else run into a similar issue and if so what was your solution used to fix it?

Poor quality cell phone pic of my temp fix. It made the 30-mile ride home without any issues so it should hold until I have time to make a real repair.

Thanks in advance for any insight.

[snowd]

For me it would be easier to find a spent genny from someone here and swap the guts?

[meanmechanic]

Yep, turn gen off the original holes drill and tap. Damn good thinkin'

[ericfreeman]

Or, fit Heli-coils to the stripped holes and be done with it!

Eric

[Jafa39]

Helicoils...that's what my XLS had....metric ones with Suzuki bolts.....oh the shame!

[PARKESBURG9]

Thanks for the replies. My first thought was to go the Heli-coil route but there is a slight hairline crack on the surface and side of the generator where the top bolt threads start, No more than 1/16th of an inch long.

My fear was I would drill it and install the coil and cause the crack to expand. It also seems there isn’t much meat between the hole and side of the generator case to begin with. I’m still thinking that turning it and drilling new holes will be the strongest and most cost effective way to go.

I’ve clocked just over 7000 miles this year so far and this is the only real glitch I’ve encountered. I really don’t think of it as problem since it was only down for about 45 minutes and it still carried my @$$ home! My temporary fix seems solid enough to run ‘till I have time to do it right.

Again, thanks for the ideas it’s much appreciated.

[IronMick]

I have a helicoil in mine. Been good for 4 years.

[bustert]

heli-coiles are nice and one definite advantage is that they can be extracted and replaced. disadvantage is that you can't get wild because they are actually springs. if you want something that will be better than the original holes, use thread inserts. once locked, they ain't coming out and are stronger than the original metal. premiere industries used to sell the supertaninum ones but i believe they were bought out by lawson so try there first.

[bustert]

on the crack.

when you tear down the gen, drill a small hole at the ends of the crack to relieve the stress. take a die grinder and cut a small "v" notch along the crack and filet weld the notch with a small 7018 (LH) rod and low current. dress off the top of the weld and repaint. good as new.

[PARKESBURG9]

After thinking about it on the ride home last night I decided to heli-coil the generator. I have about 100 miles on my temporary repair and its holding solid.

I have a 100+ mile ride planned for tomorrow and some commuting next week so I’m planning on next Sunday to do the permanent repair.

The crack is very very small, just some stretch on the mounting surface most likely from the PO over tightening.

I’ll post some pix next week when repair is done. Thanks much for the input one and all.