Okay, so I'm not a very good teacher, at all.
I'll try one more time, then I'll quit!
If you take the shaft stick it in a vise, spread the jaws just wide enough to support that threaded piece, with the shaft loose between the jaw's.
Tap on the cap end of the shaft, this will move that threaded piece toward's the cap end.
This will lengthen the distance between the tip, and the threaded piece.
This will allow the tip to seat, before the threaded stop bottom's out, in it's seat.
I also lapped the tip/seat with lapping compound, when I had that threaded stop up the shaft.
So in reality when you guy's are putting "whatever", on the end's of your shaft's, all you are doing is lengthening the distance between the tip, and the threaded stop. Hmm, which allow's the tip to seat before the threaded stop, seat's. Imagine that.
The biggest problem I see with your Peek fix, is that everytime you screw that rod in to close off your fuel supply, you are squeezing that Peek, against a metal seat. How long do you think that stuff will last? The tip on my rod is metal, not some funky material that is going to disintegrate into my tank, down my fuel line, and into my carb, No Thanks!
I don't own a bike newer than 1970, and I ride my bike's everywhere, and atleast one of them just about every day. I have never had a leak on a shutoff valve that I have repaired with the above method. I've had plenty of leaks with the newer style under the tank petcocks, in fact my 70 is weeping a little as we speak, but that's what shovelheads do! Anybody want a nice 70, I'll swap my bike, and cash, against a decent pan project?
So you can dink around with the Peek if you want to, but try my repair method, it work's. You could solder/braze/weld that stop into place, but you better not ever want to use that part again. I'm thinking she'd be mighty hard to remove that material from the stop, and shaft.
I'm thinkin that Harley used the same shutoff valve for about 25 years, I don't ever remember reading about Peek in any of the early repair books.
Maybe back in the day, you could buy a new shutoff valve, when your's went to heII, and maybe it wouldn't rob the bank, but nowadays you better be able to fix what you have, unless you have unlimited time, and an unlimited wallet, so you can order a part, which more than likely isn't even made in the USA anymore. I'll stick with repairing my old junk.
You guy's are trying new technology on a 50+ year old bike, everybody always think's they have a better way. I'll stick with what has worked since 1940, and I'll shut up.
Jim
