Using a tap for the first time.

[Texarkana]

As the title states I’m using a tap for the first time in my life. Better late than never eh?

If you check my last post on here I thought I had cross threaded a stud into the aluminum head on my 3800. After talking with my uncle who builds muddin trucks in his back yard he just thinks the threads are galled up since I was able to get 28 lb ft of torque on said stud.

I ordered all new studs and got a 5/16th X 18 spiral tap to chase the threads with.

My question regards whether or not to use fluid. A young guy at fastenal sold me heavy duty cutting fluid to use with the tap. They didn’t have anymore tap handles so I dropped by both oriellys and advance auto before I found one. The guy at AA said even if I were cutting new threads that you don’t use fluid on aluminum.

Can anyone verify this? Aluminium is so soft it makes sense but I want to be 110% sure.

Topic

[Its me]

Aluminum taps like butter… Just ensure you drill the hole with the proper sized drill bit before you tap (size charts are all over the internet)… FWIW I have never used oil with aluminum, but it probably won’t hurt anything…

Karl

[Joshua Eason]

I always use cutting fluid no matter what. That’s what I learned in school, and it’s worked for more than a decade for me. As for the auto parts store advice, all I can say is those guys work at a retail auto store for a reason. They are not what I would consider to be subject matter experts. Not saying they are all bad, but the ones that are knowledgeable are the exception to the rule. Most of the time, they can barely get a part ordered let alone tell you how to work on it. As for drill bit size, there is no need to look on the internet, I’ll make it easy for you… the proper dill bit size is always printed or engraved on the tap. Makes it so dumb ass mechanics like myself can’t screw it up…

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[Author]

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