Stripped bolt in PTO cover

[stickshift_or_walk]

When putting new gaskets on the SM465 4spd tranny, we removed one of the side PTO cover plates and found that a PO had broken off part of the interior hole in the case that surrounded one of the bolt holes. Guess that explains the leak.

Anyway, it left about 2/3 of the tapped hole, so I hoped the bolt would hold well enough to seal. So we've got it back together with new cork gaskets (which I had to cut myself), gasket sealer, etc, and the plate seems pretty solid.

However, that one bolt won't hold more than a finger-tight torque, so it's pretty stripped. Since it's a lower bolt, I'm concerned that gear lube will leak out around it.

I don't think tapping for a larger bolt will work since that chunk of thread is missing.

There's no lube in the tranny, so I'm thinking of cleaning the bolt & hole with carb cleaner (drain plug out), and putting some JB Weld or similar in to hold that bolt good & tight.

Any suggestions, opinions or improvements on this plan?

Thanks...SSOW

[Fred T]

JB weld won't let you remove the bolt later. If there is enough clearance and if you can get the inside of the housing clean enough, JB weld a thin nut or a piece of steel that you have threaded. You will probably have to cook some of the oil out of the housing with a propane torch to get anything to stick.

If you have to glue the bolt in, use one of the loc-tite products.

[sneakysnake]

You might cut a new gasket with NO hole in it, and just fill in the broken threads, silicone or a good sealer should hold after it sets up

[stickshift_or_walk]

Thanks, guys. I ended up going Fred T's route. We went ahead and removed the cover plate to do the job right. After cleaning all the surfaces again, we thinned down the right sized nut on the grinder, since there was very little clearance with the front gear. Following JB weld instructions, we roughed up the rest of the nut surface on the grinder, too.

Got everything squeaky clean with thinner and brake cleaner, then put a bolt in to hold the nut in place while the JB weld set up. 24 hours later, the bolt came out just fine and the nut won't budge. Cut out another gasket, coated all the surfaces with a good sealer, and bolted everything back up.

On to the next challenge...SSOW