Diff breather difficulty

I was going to install the diff breather I removed from my 2006 (totaled this spring) into my new 2022. I removed the stock breather, then tried to install the from my 2006 (to extend it higher of course), but the thread in piece for the extended breather made one turn and stopped. It felt like it was the wrong thread size, but after looking and counting threads and measuring, it’s the same.

But the threads on the stock piece I removed look all buggered up. I started threading in the other piece, and you can see it looks like it’s doing the same thing to those threads.



The threads in the diff don’t look great, but not terrible.



I could try to force the extended diff breather nipple in, maybe it’ll work, and it’s not like I’ll probably ever take it off. But I could strip out the thread in the diff.

Or I could run a tap through the diff threads to try to clean them up. I’d probably have to change the diff fluid if I did that though.

The odd thing is the threads were like that from the factory, all I did was remove the stock breather.

I’d like to take care of this myself. Any other suggestions?

 

Tap it if you feel so inclined, i would just tighten it down the way it is though cause im lazy.

 

Cross threaded or torqued to spec, tight is tight.

 

That happened to me on my 2nd gen. I just wrapped the thread in Teflon tape and tightened it. Never had a problem for over 10 years like that.

 

Tap it. Put grease on the tap to catch the cuttings from entering the pumpkin.

 

I agree with this and because you are just cleaning up the threads it should be a minimal amount of metal.

 

Me personally? I’m throwing some Teflon on it and jamming it in. You either tap it now or tap it later. Chances are I won’t have to tap it later cause it’ll stay on there for a while. Plus, the vehicle will be 5-10 years older at that point, and running a tap into a vehicle that old doesn’t sting nearly as much.

 

You can see the problem in the threads here...



Get an NPT tap and lightly clean the threads.. you don't need to rethread it.

As @Toycoma2021 mentioned, pack the flutes of the tap with a nice sticky grease.

This isn't unusual with threaded holes or even bolts. There may have been a bubble in the casting or the tap was at the end of life... it's minor and easily correctable.

 

I tapped it with grease on the flutes. It was a little tough keeping it straight, but with a bit of effort, it worked. New piece threaded right in with little effort.

Thanks everyone!