DAMAGED THREAD REPAIR
The team at Jerry’s has specialized in fixing damaged threads for over 25 years. The phrase “damaged threads” is not always used to describe the problem. For instance, mechanics, auto service centers and private parties might refer or search for the service using the words or phrases such as pulled threads, stripped threads or possibly threads that won’t hold torque.
Avoid a Thread Repair Disaster
When working with damaged threads its important to have this service provided by an expert that has professional experience that specializes in this area of rework with extensive skills. At Jerry’s our thread damage repair is done using “Solid Thread Inserts”. During more than 25 years of experience conducting different types of repair styles we determined Solid Thread Inserts or the solid style works best for this application.
Below are the steps we follow:
- Ream holes of any residual oil and water
- Drill hole to proper size for tap
- Solid thread inserts have a small head so its necessary to counter bore to proper depth and diameter
- Tap hole to the depth needed to except the length of insert used
- Install insert using a “Driver Tool” specially made for this purpose
This is a true story of a repair shop trying to do the repair themselves and the disaster that followed. The repair shop had called Jerry’s and we scheduled the job for the next day but the customer never showed up. The job involved reworking 14 stripped head bolt holes on a BMW motor, still in the car. Time went by and approximately two weeks later the BMW car shows up at Jerry’s on a tow truck? Before it was unloaded we asked to look at the motor and were in shock. The repair shop had tried the repair themselves and it was done wrong. Instead of bringing it over to the experts at Jerry’s they chose to try and correct their mistake themselves and had created an even bigger problem. They went so over sized that it was impossible to repair the motor and the motor had to be replaced.
The tooling for this repair is available to anyone, but without allot of machining experience and daily practice using solid thread inserts, a simple repair can go terribly wrong as it did for the poor owner of the BMW above.
The repair for the job which would have been approximately $550 verses the cost of replacing the entire engine. Unfortunately in the end, the shop incurred the cost of the failed repair attempt, days of wasted labor and ultimately had to replace the engine block in addition to having an unhappy customer.
Sincerely folks, I hope this story makes you think twice before you try this yourself. Come and see the experts at Jerry’s we are here to help you!