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Oil Reservoir Bolt Torque

6.3K views 5 replies 3 participants last post by  hatzie  
#1 · (Edited)
Greetings,
I am replacing the oil tank on my Sportsman 500. I bought a used aluminum tank from eBay and was concerned about the history (and the black goo when I took off the drain plug), so I ordered a gasket and split it open to clean it out.

I bought the 96-03 service manual, but was surprised that replacing the oil reservoir or opening it to clean, was not included in the manual.

Questions:
Where can I find info/steps for oil tank replacement and cleaning out the oil tank?
What is the torque spec for the oil reservoir bolts?

Thanks in advance for your help.
 
#2 ·
I do not have the specific info for you unfortunately. Bummer you already opened it, probably could have just rinsed it with some diesel fuel or degreaser. What is the gasket material? Rubber, paper, synthetic? Was there an RTV residue with the old gasket? I would just torque it according to the gasket material.
 
#3 ·
You are probably right. I did a rinse with degreaser, then a couple of rounds of clean oil and it kept coming out dark. The OCD in me said "better safe than sorry", so I opened it up. It wasn't THAT bad, just some gunk in a few corners, but not knowing made me nervous.

I've not received the new gasket yet, but the old one looks paper-ish. Most of the gasket came off easily. There is still some around the bolt holes that I need to scrape off carefully. I think that means probably little to no RTV.
 
#4 · (Edited)
6mm no grade bolts in aluminum are 5 ft lbs dry... grade 8.8 6mm bolts are 7ft lbs.
I just ran em up reasonably tight with a short 3/8 ratchet.
I didn't use sealer.
BTW if you look at the dirty pics in my AL oil tank thread that's after one diesel fuel rinse out. Split the tanks and clean em. Lazy doesn't pay good dividends in this case.

From orbit on my Android.
 
#5 ·
6mm no grade bolts in aluminum are 5 ft lbs dry... grade 8.8 6mm bolts are 7ft lbs.
I just ran em up reasonably tight with a short 3/8 ratchet.
I didn't use sealer.
BTW if you look at the dirty pics in my AL oil tank thread that's after one diesel fuel rinse out. Split the tanks and clean em. Lazy doesn't pay good dividends in this case.
Agreed. Thanks for the info.
 
#6 · (Edited)
The flange head metric perimeter bolts can be sourced from McMaster Carr. I believe they are M6 bolts and I paid @ $8.00 for 50 rather than $2.50 each from Polaris.

The 14mm copper crush washers, dipstick o-ring, nylon breather fitting, and pickup screen are good to replace with new parts.
The 14mm banjo to 1/2" hose barb fitting for the oil pump intake hose makes the install easier.
I almost always put new rubber mounting isolators on as well.

From orbit on my Android.