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I removed the drain valve from my wing tanks to address leaking. Found that they were threaded right into the fiberglass. Is this normal (I didn't build my airplane)?. In any case, when inserting the new valve, I found that the threads were stripped out. Any advise? Wouldn't it make more sense to have some kind of brass insert with a flange on the inside for the valves to thread into?
How badly stripped? I've hear of using JB Weld as a thread fixer/fitting sealer
in Kitfox tanks in the past. Seems to me it should work fine, unless it's so badly
stripped the fitting literally falls out.
Jeff
yes I believe they are all threaded right into the fiberglass, concerned me a bit too when i built mine. I would think an easy fix might be to drill it out bigger and thread it for a brass fitting and hysol the fitting in so you have a nice solid base to screw the finger strainer/hose barb into.
I just posted a photo of my tank outlet tonight. Something leaked up there in the past and the builder just gave up. Now it's my project. Mine looks like a cast iron bushing with a poly hose barb fitting screwed into that. I'm going to do a leak check Sunday and see what happens. I'm a huge fan of JB weld as well, but maybe not on an aircraft. We'll see....
Jay