Don't get offended, you are the one who invited us to call you stupid. How many times can a bolt be torqued, removed, reinstalled and retorqued in the same nut before one of them fails, and how many times can the washer be reused? Because of the ease and speed of oil changes it is without a doubt a better replacement. No hot oil on the hand, no plug falling into the pan where you either have to fish it out (or in the case of mine to plug the little hole the oil goes into), no need for a torque wrench and socket every time an oil change is due, need I say more?

 

stock plug for me... never have seen enough advantage vs safety trade-off. losing your motor is pretty stiff penalty for failure.

it may be worth it to some, but no thanks for me

 

How many times can a valve be opened and closed before it leaks?
I have over 500 valves on the farm, believe me they all eventually leak be they gate or ball type.
At 10k mile changes my drain plugs have been removed over 25 times on each rig.
Still using the original washers too but never a torque wrench.

 

I sheared off my stock plug at about 140k. Got a new one from autozone, and yes it was in stock, for 6 bucks. The gorilla that owned the truck before me thought a torque wrench was a 2 foot breaker bar, because I've found several bolts that were stripped out, and the tranny pan gasket looked like a fresh pizza dough thrown around. I just snug the new one, probly around 30 pounds, and when I change oil it's hot so I just crack the plug and go on to grease every thing while it's draining.

 

I'm not offended! I don't think your torque theory is valid, your torqueing a plug, not something like a wheel nut, or a safety type device. So in theory, if you never "over-torque" your pan plug, it can't wear out in a reasonable amount of use. I'll admit, that you can wear anything out, but come on, how many road tractors have well over 1,000,000 miles on the original plug?

 

Problems with the stock drain plug usually arise from too much torque on it. . . Dodge actually told dealers to put 60 ft lbs of torque on it for a while. This was true for some other B Series engines, but the 5.9 torque spec is supposed to be 40 ft lbs. Or there's always the good advice that when it's tight . . . stop turning! I use stock drain plugs because, in my opinion, they have the best design. They offer maximum clearance, easy access and easy service (don't you always have a 3/8 ratchet kicking around?), and are tough if you don't get unreasonably tough with them. I've never changed washers or drain plugs between 5k changes over 500,000+ miles on two trucks.

 

I heard the problem with torque actually arises because the 5.9 was originally designed with a 18 quart oil pan that Cummins made.
The 11 quart pan was a Dodge thing in order to clear the front axle.
No doubt the 11 quart pan was speced by Dodge on the cheap like everything else tend they do but the torque value was something Cummins told them to use.
My Case backhoe and NH swather with 5.9s have 18 qt pans look like you could run over them with a crawler tractor without damage.
They're thick steel, not sheet metal. I still don't tighten them to 60 ft/lbs though, 30 is plenty.

 

I thought it was the plug that failed at that torque, not the oil pan.

 

+1 ... have never torqued drain plug over 30 lbs... just because drainplugs uses a large wrench size, doesn't mean you torque it to max.

soft copper washers deforms easily and seals at low ft lbs torque.
not so much a problem with 2wdr ... but any valve that sticks out 4wheeling adds un-necessary risk. now if valve is under a full on skid plate... then I'd be good with it.

 

Both can fail.
The pan and plug are both more heavy duty on the larger capacity oil pans.

 

Personally, I really have no use for the Fumoto style valve. However, I much prefer the setup we had on all the trucks at my old job. I can't for the life of me remember the brand name of the setup we were using, but Fram marketed a similar product under the Sure-Drain name.
Basicly it has a brass valve that screws in the pan to replace the drain plug, a brass cap for the valve, and a hose with fitting attached. When you drain the oil, you unscrew the brass cap from the valve, screw on the hose, and it opens the valve... You end up with something that's only a little taller than the stock plug and there's no little handle to catch on things, and even if the valve leaks, the brass cap is o-ring sealed so you have no leaks.
I have used the Fram version of this on personal stuff, and it's not as good as the other one, but, I absolutley cannot remember the brand name.

 

Perhaps like this one> http://www.genosgarage.com/prodinfo....Z-DP-22MMPL-DG

 

Thats the one I have. I drain my oil right into gallon jugs. Theres no mess and no oil in my armpit.