The too-easy Donghai petcock fix by Richard Cook
The weather is turning here and with a dry day out comes the CJ for all the local errands.

I was just back from the store and working on another bike when I noticed an odd bit in the driveway. It was a tiny brass rod with a piece of hose on it with Chinese writing. Since you never know how you might use something like that or just where it came from I put it in a container on my workbench.

All was well until that evening when I prepared to shut off the CJ gas to stow it. No lever on the petcock. Hummmmmmm.

It seems the Donghai petcock lever is just tapered and pressed in and a year of on and off made mine loose enough to fall off in the driveway. Better than when I needed reserve at a light.
I figured I’d have to drill and tap it and make a pin to screw in. Since it is in a tough place to drill and I hate making a mess draining gas when I don’t need to I thought I’d look for at least a temporary alternative.
I compared a number of handy screws and found a box of self tappers that measured about right. Since the petcock is brass a self tapper should cut in easily, especially the hex head type. I cut a small piece of fuel hose to pad and finish the lever and lo and behold it screwed right in and got very tight.
This took as much torque as I dared put on it and clears nicely in the reserve position. It may turn out to be the permanent fix as when stuff works well it stays put around here. This was so easy I know I’ll pay for it on the next job.