My First Galley Plug Fix (1 Viewer)

[Eporter]

So I dove in yesterday, after reading, and re-reading tons of posts on here. I will share my successful method, and add it to the pile:

It was time to adjust my valves, so I figured since I was in up to my elbows, why not fix the galley plug, too?

Total time was about 2.5 hours. That included removing a steel heater pipe against the firewall for drill clearance (and draining the radiator so as to not make a mess).

Everything went well, and I'm glad I did this! I feel way more confident about driving around in my truck after I pulled out the tiny, weeping, oil galley plug.

I had previously sourced everything I needed for this job.

-Vermont American "Dual Speed Angle Drive Kit" p/n 17172
-Irwin/Hanson 5/16"-18NC Tap, with "G" drill bit kit p/n 80235
-Irwin/Hanson T-handle tap wrench for sizes 1/4"-1/2"
-Stainless Steel Set Screw Socket 5/16"x3/8"(Bag of 2) Barcode p/n 3069973858

I bought the angle drive kit at a local hardware store. The tap&drill set, tap handle, and set screws came from Home Depot. Buying the tap & drill as a kit was helpful. The tap is a USA-made, high carbon steel plug tap. I searched for a true tapered tap, but couldn't easily find any. A couple specialty tool supply places had them, but they were spendy. (I know Home Depot isn't the best place to look)

So, note the weeping oil galley plug:

I removed the head bolt, and stuffed my custom-made crap-catcher in. It's a 2-3" square of cloth & a zip tie.

Note the installed position. I pushed the cloth into the hole until just below the oil galley hole. This will allow any crud that goes through to be pulled up and out when I'm all done.

I then center-punched the plug with a cheap Harbor Freight center punch tool.

Then drilled with a 1/8" bit, moving up to 13/64". The plug is very soft & easy to drill. It's only about 1/4" long, while the galley passage is about 1" to the head bolt bore.

I found a random coarse-thread eye bolt in a jar of misc. bolts. I threaded it in until the galley plug started rotating and popped out:

My engine was rebuilt a few years back, so I'm not sure if this was the factory plug. Too bad they didn't fix it for me! Note how short it is, compared to the 5/16"x3/8" set screws:

On to the drilling & tapping. First, I cracked a can of Moxie. It seemed appropriate. My housemate's friend shipped a case of the stuff to us. It's a New England thing...

I used the "G" sized bit supplied with the tap. Oiled the bit, drilled, & removed shavings.

I then used the tap. This is the part where everything can go wrong. I've never tapped something so carefully! I filled the flutes of the tap with grease to catch the metal chips & sprayed some light cutting oil into the galley hole. I would do about 1/8th of a turn cutting, then back off 1/2 a turn.

Repeat several times until you feel added binding on the cutting turn. This binding means the flutes of the tap are full of metal chips. DANGER! DANGER! Back the tap out of the hole before you break it! Clean both the tap and the hole. A pipecleaner & q-tip came in handy for this.

**Tighten the tap wrench just enough on the tap. This makes backing out easier, as you can loosen the tap a bit, then pull the wrench off and un-thread, clean, grease, & re-thread the tap by hand. The PCV metal plumbing on the block just barely got in the way of my tap wrench's handle.***

This part of the process took awhile, and I really wanted to rush it. I think that's why there are the varied "I broke this, please help!" threads. Yes, taps can snap for no reason. However, I didn't want to give my tap ANY reason to break!

S..l...o...w......a...n...d.......s...t...e...a...d...y...........

I tapped in a little further than I needed to for the two set screws. I didn't tap clean through to the head bolt hole, as I wanted the set screw to bind in the galley hole, and not be able to continue into the head bolt hole. I then cleaned out the hole, and blew out any grease with a little brake cleaner, using a straw through the head bolt hole. This will leave a nice surface for the loctite to bind into.

Look at that beautiful, threaded hole!

What's better? Why how 'bout the same hole with not one, but TWO set screws in it? WITH Loctite! (I didn't have any red, but blue is good, & the screws are bound into the hole & each other):

And, here's all the crap I took out of the head bolt hole:

***Don't forget to put the head bolt back in***

SO, hope that helps anyone concerned about trying this. It really isn't that bad.

 

[87CRUSR]

Nice pictures. Looks like a nice clean job.

 

[sven]

don't know about anyone else but..

this is the thread I was waiting for but then again, I'm 'search lazy'. I have a valve adjust. coming up and will be doing this same thing. Thanks for the effort, photos are great.

 

[slcfj62]

Great thread! You filled in the gaps for this process. Well done. Why don't you go to the thread on this in the FAQ section and add a post where you link to this thread? This is the best thread I have seen on the galley plug fix.

EDIT: OK, I scrolled down a little farther and see that you already posted up in the FAQ thread.

 

[Spike Strip]

Great write-up! Best I've seen.

This would make a nice FAQ (hint-hint)

 

[karlsz]

thanks. great write up.

 

[Rigger]

Great write-up! Best I've seen.

This would make a nice FAQ (hint-hint)

Great write-up, Eporter!

Spike, this is going in FAQ. Thanks.

 

[orangeroom]

Excellent write up, good pics and very descriptive. Will be useful when I do mine as well. Thanks!

 

[cruiseninak]

What spec did you torque the head bolt to? Anything special with removing or reinstalling it? Did you take similar pics of the valve adjustment? And awesome write up these are #1 ans 2 on the to do list. Thanks.

 

[GLTHFJ60]

Great write up.

 

[Eporter]

Hey guys, glad this is appreciated. I've gotten tons of info over the years from IH8MUD and the old LCML. Figured I could put something good back in.

It gets confusing searching through all the different methods and opinions. This is what worked for me.

This job really isn't that bad. Kinda sad that I let it go this long. Would've been bad if it'd popped out while I was still procrastinating on it...

I didn't take any pics of the valve adjust. I would've needed a 4th hand! I used a combination of the old birfield.com Jim Chenoweth description, and 2mbb's(I think) pink and yellow A, B, rotate 360, C, D, excel spreadsheet. I posted a copy of the Jim C valve adjust in a thread the other day. Birfield is inactive, but I had a copy of the write-up on the computer.

That was my first solo valve adjust as well. Remember, the feeler gauge goes on the side OPPOSITE the adjusting screw and locknut. Typical rookie mistake, I was trying to jam a feeler gauge in on the wrong side for a minute or so, scratching my head!

That's a good question on the head bolt torque. The FSM calls for 84-97ft-lbs, BUT that's when you have the engine fully, & freshly, warmed up to operating temp. It's listed in the Engine manual under valve adjust tune-up. They have you check the torque on the rocker bolts and head bolts when you first take the cover off, before adjusting the valves.

I measured the torque on the other (cold) head bolts and made an educated guess.

Anyone know what the "best practice" is for tightening a single, cold, head bolt?

 

[Miloslavich]

Eporter- this is hands down the best Galley fix thread ive reviewed.

thanks for posting up.

My rig is down right now waiting for a Jim C Carb and dizzy rebuild, im going to adjust my valves and do the galley plug while shes down. This thread was just what i was looking for!

Cheers-

 

[alkarich]

Nice job, and thanks for the detailed description.

I've added this to a folder.

Alan

 

[Maxdaddy]

Dang man, good work. I need to do that, but I'm kinda nervous I'm gonna mess it up. This makes me a little bit more confident to try it.

 

[AKcruiserfreak]

I just fixed the galley plug this weekend using your intructions. Great job on the writeup! It went without a hitch. Home Depot also carries a lower profile version of the 90 degree drill you used and it works like a champ.

TK

 

[Eporter]

AKcruiser, good to hear you found a smaller 90 kit. That would cut even more time off if you don't need to remove the heater hoses. I bought my kit awhile back at a local hardware store for another job, so I used it anyways.

Looks like Home Depot now carries the complete Land Cruiser Galley Plug Fix Kit.

What did you torque your head bolt to?

 

[AKcruiserfreak]

AKcruiser, good to hear you found a smaller 90 kit. That would cut even more time off if you don't need to remove the heater hoses. I bought my kit awhile back at a local hardware store for another job, so I used it anyways.

Looks like Home Depot now carries the complete Land Cruiser Galley Plug Fix Kit.

What did you torque your head bolt to?

I torqued it to "tight" Seriously, it took everything I had to get it off, and I don't have a torque wrench, so I kinda red-necked it. Sorry I'm not of more help. I'll do better next time.;p On a side note, My valve train quieted way down when I adjusted the valves. I would highly recommend doing both if you are going to do one. Just my $.02

TK

 

[cruiser88]

fantastic

 

[hank14]

Great write-up. I was working on this at the same time you posted yours.
I used the angled drill adapter and had to remove the heater hoses as well (I had already bought all new cooling and heater hoses to replace the original ones. I have patiently been waiting until I could tackle the oil galley job and hose replacement all at once).

I had some trouble breaking off a Black and Decker EZ Out extractor when I didn't pre-drill a large enough hole. I had to grind the extractor out and start over to get the old plug out.

Here's the old plug in place with valve cover and head bolt removed.

Looking down on the head bolt hole where the plug is.

Heater hoses removed and slowly tapping the hole with paper towel stuffed in the head bolt hole.

I used the 5/16" x 24 tap and 2 short 5/16x24 allen head plugs with Red Threadlocker. So far so good. Very glad to get this project done.

 

[mtb_rider]

I unfortunately suffered a blown galley plug last summer. As it's my DD, I had to get it fixed in a hurry and back on the road, so took no pics, though I did do a little write up then. I actually got a 1/16" NPT tap (didn't even know they made them that small until then), greased the tap up real well, worked a few turns, pulled it out to clean and regrease, following that procedure 3 or 4 times over, then plugged it with a 1/16" tapered pipe plug, with red Gel-seal (that loctite gasket maker stuff). Worked great, and with no drilling, plus fast to get me back on the road in a hurry. Did it in 30-40 minutes. Much easier for me though that the plug was already gone!