Hi Dave,

Although it is officially a No-No, I have always used Teflon tape on my
large pipe thread ends.  I am carefully to not wrap it so that tape is not
near the pointed end and is wrapped tight.  I also found the fitting
"bottoming" out in the redrive casting as if made for a straight rather than
a tapered NPT.  This not a recommendation to use Teflon tape - just my
experience has been OK.

Ed A

Group,

 There are several brands of NPT pipe sealer that work great without the danger of breaking loose particles. Go to the gas piping section og your local hwd and you will find a teflon-enhanced liquid pipe sealer. It is a brush on paste that does eveything the tape does. Put it on a couple of threads up from the end. It seals great and there are no pieces to float down stream. This product is aften called "pipe dope".

Bill Jepson