sjmpainter Posted March 4, 2017 Share Posted March 4, 2017 Steve, you stated you installed drain plugs on your pumps. I picked up some 1/4 inch drain cox's to install on my pumps. Any words of wisdom before I go drill my pumps? Little nervous about this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Herschbach Posted March 4, 2017 Share Posted March 4, 2017 I pulled the housings and had a shop drill and tap them for me. Peace of mind and I would have had to buy a tap anyway. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob(AK) Posted March 4, 2017 Share Posted March 4, 2017 Be gentle, the aluminum is not very thick 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sjmpainter Posted March 4, 2017 Author Share Posted March 4, 2017 Thanks guys. I have a old pump that is trashed, I'll practice on that first. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sjmpainter Posted March 5, 2017 Author Share Posted March 5, 2017 Installed drain plugs today. Pretty easy once I got going? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Herschbach Posted March 5, 2017 Share Posted March 5, 2017 Good work! It never happened to me but just be careful how you pack them around or stow them in the bed of a truck. You don't want anything slamming into the drains. Sure beats pulling the housing bolts every night! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sjmpainter Posted March 5, 2017 Author Share Posted March 5, 2017 The drain plugs are vintage plugs I found on Ebay, I used those because everything I found local was a lot larger and as you pointed out the possibility of breaking them off is great. I was a little nervous adding the drain plug, 400 dollar pump and all. So I drilled a scrap piece of aluminum and tapped that for a test run. That went well so I moved on to an old P100 pump that I had in the bone pile. Really glad I did the extra step. What I came to relies, with the odd shape and rough casting on the pumps my drill bit ended up walking all over the place. Butchered the P100 pretty good. My solution for this was to use a bench grinder with table to flatten the spot I drilled. Punched the hole with the drill press. I did clamp the pump with two wooden hand clamps to make sure things stayed straight and perpendicular. Next I clamped the pump (wood jig and all) in the vice and used a hand tap to make the threads. Finally installed the plug. (used thread sealer) Wile I was set up I did four pumps. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Herschbach Posted March 5, 2017 Share Posted March 5, 2017 I used these little guys, two for $3.14 At Amazon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bear Posted March 5, 2017 Share Posted March 5, 2017 I wished I would posted earlier on this thread. I put a pitcock on a 4" a few years ago. I don't know how much it would really mattered but I didn't want to affect the pressure so drilled and tapped it so that it would not protrude into the housing to much. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bear Posted March 5, 2017 Share Posted March 5, 2017 I need to do this to my other pumps. A few years ago during some cold water dredging I had a pump freeze but luckily it didn't freeze solid. It only broke the seal. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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