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Removing $#%!!!@#$ Stuck Oil Filter

23K views 40 replies 33 participants last post by  Texstrom 
#1 ·
Nice today. Rode 110 miles.

Bonnie turned over 6K on the ride so when I came home, cleaned and oiled the chain, removed the drain plug and drained the oil.

Put a 3/8 socket wrench to the K&N filter, turned counterclockwise, nothing. Again. Nothing. Took a rubber hammer and tapped. Nothing. Harder. Nothing. Got down on the other side of the bike, grabbed the handle with both hands and with feet on front tire pulled -- so hard that the bike pivoted on the center stand. Nothing! (Well, something. The pot metal nut welded to the top of the filter was so soft it stripped in the socket!)

Borrowed a band wrench from a friend. Hard to get on, not much room up there, but finally got a tentative hold on enough of the fIlter to grip it. Pushed, pulled, tapped with hammer. Nothing! Going mad.

Guess I'll call Owen Lehman's Cycle Shop in the morning and if he can take a look at it I'll put three quarts of dino oil in it and ride it up to him and let him try his luck.

Man am I FRUSTRATED!

Anybody have any ideas other than suicide?

Incidentally, in case you are wondering. I am the idiot who put it on. I thought I did it right, just like the hundreds I have put on in the past. I filled the filter with oil, smeared a goodly amount of oil on the O ring, spun it on by hand. Tightened it with a short wrench until it just mated, then gave it a slight additional tug - one click on the rachet! Backed it off and it came off easily. Repeated it to the same point. Obviously in this case I tightened it too much. So, please, no advice on how to properly put on a filter - I'm already POd at myself enough. But HOW DO I GET THE D%@!!eD THING OFF!
Even if Owen gets it off tomorrow, it would be good to know in case I'm so stupid it happens again!!


:( :hammer: :mad: :brk:
 
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#2 ·
I purchased an oil filter wrench that is about a foot long and has teeth and actually bites into the filter. I've crushed a few filters with it but it hasn't failed me yet. Now if I could only remember where I got it!

[ This message was edited by: 5bassman on 2006-12-14 21:47 ]
 
#3 ·
Dude, lighten up on yourself will ya????

I have had it happen before, maybe that one time I was overzealous but geesh, I have NEVER paid anyone to change my oil and have been driving for decades so I too think I know how to tighten a filter but $$#!^ happens.

I have heard of driving a screwdriver into the side of the fiter and spinning it off that way. I used a pair of channel locks to grip/crush the filter into submission. Wasn't pretty but it worked. Not like it wasn't destined for the can anyhow.


Good luck with this one.
 
#4 ·
Oooh, THAT'S frustrating.....!

Soooo..... "lefty loosey, righty tighty" UPSIDE-DOWN.... ? And it's still not coming off? Have you tried it after it's cooled down.... (likely you have, if you borrowed band wrench.

Well........ you take a really sharp object (or a screwdriver) and hammer it through the filter, then torque it off (and clean up one hell of a mess with kitty litter afterward).

So that K&N bolt stripped?!?!?! D'OH!..... I'm ALWAYS afraid that I put all my filters on too tight..... and it's a K&N I've got on there now.
 
#8 ·
Long, long ago I, I worked a couple of summers while starting college at a quick oil change shop, and have experience with oil filters that are on really, really tight. If a filter wouldn't come off I would take very serious channel locks with handles about 2 feet long and practically crush the filter gripping it very tight and I could usually get off with some good muscle. If that didn't work I'd shove a gigantic screwdriver, again about 1.5 feet long, right through it, and then slip a long pipe over the end of the screwdriver to give breaker bar like torque and that would always get it off, just apply the torque gently at first and then harder and harder, because you dont want to rip or shear the filter in two. Good luck, should be no problem though.
 
#9 ·
I used to hammer a flathead screwdriver into it and pop it loose.....now I just use a filter wrench I bought at Checker for 4.99. Simple as pie.

Keep in mind that when you install a new filter, you only want to "hand" torque it on. Don't use the filter socket cause it will F' up the seal. Just a light layer of oil on the new seal and hand torque it....it won't go anywhere.
 
#10 ·
I guarentee this will work. Take a long screwdiver with a reasonably sharp blade. Place the tip of the blade against the rolled lip of the fliter cannister (where the cannister is rolled and crimped to the filter's base plate). Ensure that the blade is not going to strike the engine block. Take your hammer (you don't need the BFH here) and hit the handle of the screwdriver several times. Your goal is to make a small indentation or notch in the rolled lip. Then move the handle of the screwdriver the opposite direction that you want the cartridge to spin, keep the blade in the notch that you've made, and hit it again. Usually just a couple of taps will loosen the filter. If you put it on really tight, you might have to got thru the process twice. I wouldn't punch a hole in the filter because then you are really screwed.

PM me if any questions.
 
#14 ·
Owen got the filter off with a huge ViceGrip, about 16" long. Had him balance the carbs while I was there. Everything is OK now.

I think that Sears wrench looks like the right idea too and will get one next time I'm up at the mall.

Thanks for all the comments and advice.

Monte :cool:
 
#15 ·
Don't feel bad Monte, I just went through exactly the same thing. I had overtightened the filter when I put it on by doing something dumb that I won't talk about. I tried the screwdriver and hammer trick but even that didn't work. I finally got it off using the official Triumph oil filter wrench to which I added a tapped hole drilled through the side. I put a bolt through the tapped hole and tightened it until I couldn't tighten any more and the bolt was jammed into the filter so the wrench wouldn't spin on the filter. Then I put my 18" cheater bar on the wrench and it finally busted loose.
 
#16 ·
I've used the big screwdriver trick too (through the filter can), on a car. It's ugly and messy, but it works.

Now I hand-tighten the filter 1/2-3/4 turn after it seats, and I use an oil-filter wrench (not a strap wrench) if I can't get it off by hand. So far, so good.
 
#17 ·
I agree with the two posts on using a screwdriver or punch or chisel on the base of the filter--just don't know if there is that much room on the Triumph. I have done this many time on autos. Only once have I resorted to driving a screwdriver through the filter, and the filter wasn't that tight--I just could not for the life of me find the socket type filter wrench that fit the filter on my tractor...didn't have room because of the front end loader frame to get a screwdriver at the base of the filter nor enough room for large water pump pliers or my last resort wrench--a 18" Rigid pipe wrench. I used a screwdrive thru the filter and it spun right off--like I said it wasn't that tight, I just couldn't get a hold of it with my hands or anything else.

The next day I stumbled across the oil filter tool for the tractor oil filter. :mad:

Back to the Triumphs...I use the socket type oil filter tool for installation also...I torque it to the specs...much easier than trying to lie a certain way to get my hand just right to get the proper feel, etc. That might be my only complaint with the Sears wrench--I don't know if it will work to tighten...it may be a loosen only wrench. :-D

Monte, I replied to you in the K&N thread, so I won't repeat it here. :-D

Larry
 
#21 ·
Very Old Thread: Sure nice to read some of the names of long ago members. Sure hope Monte and the others are doing OK.
 
#23 ·
I had the same issue with my bmw r1200r. When I bought it, it hadn't been serviced for three years and I tried everything...the proper tool just bent the filter and slipped, the screwdriver tapped on the edge did nothing, the screwdriver through the oil filter ripped the oil filter further...bought two different types of band oil filter removal tools...they just slipped.. in the end I doubled up some coarse sandpaper with one of the band tools and it moved..I've never had an oil filter that was so destroyed...It was really close....
Rob
 
#26 ·
FYI...OP is using the K&N oil filter. We've had a few reports on this forum of those filters failing at the welded nut...leading to oil loss while riding. Last reported case caused a complete engine seize up within a few moments of noticing the oil pressure warning light.

After much investigation, engine strip down and inspection K&N ponied up for a new engine.

As always, your mileage may vary....
 
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#27 ·
For those who really like the nut welded to the bottom of the Filter, HiFlo (the company that made the filters for K&N prior to K&N switching to a contract with a Chinese company) now offer the same filter they previously made for K&N...look up HiFlo P/N: 204RC.
 
#28 ·
I've got a strap wrench which has a square metal tube with a nylon strap. It fits on the end of a 1/2 in. ratchet. It's never failed to remove a filter. When my brother tried to remove the filter on his '80 Ford F150, he exhausted all the available filter wrenches available. Nothing. He drove the big Craftsman screwdriver through it: It disintegrated. A hammer and chisel was used on the base plate (which was all that was left). Nada. I had to take my dad's acetylene torch, heat the base up (with frequent oil flare ups), and then beat it off with the hammer and chisel. After the oil change, he went back to the local Ford dealer. They said they had several 302 engines with the same problem. Not OP problem but Ford had an idiot installing filters at the engine assy. plant evidently. If the screwdriver doesn't work, acetylene will.
 
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