Did my first Oil Change today...sorta

[Rebyl]

Well first one as the owner of the 08 Ultra, the other one was done by the dealer I bought the bike off. Today went to my own place, the guys a HD genius...he's a Kiwi who has worked for HD in the States and even went back there and did a couple of Tours driving trucks Interstate and visiting every Harley shop in most States...well thats what he said...anyway I stuck with his recomendations and kept to the HD 20w50 Oil in the Motor and the HD oil in the Clutch department but changed to the 6 Speed Spectro in the GBox(transmission) and what a difference in the smoothness and sound from the Tranny. Total cost of the service and Oils was $240nz which is about $150US. He also gave her the once over and adjusted the clutch as well. best part of the day was it took me three and a half hours to ride to his workshop and about 4 hours to get home...a bloody good day in great weather:bigsmiley16:
The Fat Lady has now clocked up 13000km's and is running sweet:grose

 

[TQuentin1]

I stuck with his recomendations and kept to the HD 20w50 Oil in the Motor and the HD oil in the Clutch department but changed to the 6 Speed Spectro in the GBox(transmission) and what a difference in the smoothness and sound from the Tranny

Excellent about the Spectro in the tranny. A lot of the folks here have high praise for the heavy duty (GL-5) synthetics in the 6-spd trannies. I also use the Spectro 6-spd gear lube in my SE 6.

You might upgrade the engine oil next time out to a full synthetic 20W50 motorcycle engine oil. Any of the major manufacturers of FULL synthetics that you can get locally or by mail order will serve you well. This does NOT include SYN3. Finally, if your tech guy used Formula Plus in the primary, great. If he used the same oil as in the engine, you might ask him to change to Formula Plus or Spectro Primary next time.

TQ

 

[Duffer]

When I had my RK in for the 5K service the boys in the shop told me if I were going to do a lot of long distance road trip type stuff to go with the syn but for around town short hops like back and forth to work to stick with the dead dinosaurs. I'm begining to think I was led astray

 

[Bud White]

I got with syth engine oil also and the spectro 6 speed .. and spectro primary lube all good stuff

 

[TQuentin1]

I got with syth engine oil also and the spectro 6 speed .. and spectro primary lube all good stuff

Excellent choices. IMHO, any of the premium full synthetics in the tranny and engine of appropriate grade (engine oil in the engine, gear lube in the tranny), and a fluid in the primary designed for that purpose will out perform the recommended products from HD.

TQ

 

[Rebyl]

Cost is never an issue when it comes to olis or any service issue...why would one pay $35000.00NZ for a bike and then(edit) about the cost of running...doesn't make sense.
I had a good long talk with the mechanic and he reackons there is a lot of(edit)talked about oils and that a lot of the major manufacturers jump on the bandwagon just to push their products...thats good business I suppose. I agree with the mechanic that HD would not recomend a product if it was able to be proven to be defifient as the lawyers would have their guts for garters. Also each person has to look at what sort of riding they do, the local temperature they will be riding in and another thing he mentioned was the fact that our Ultra's have a lot more fairing that restricts the air flow and increases the motor temp in and around town. So once again the debate will continue and we will all do what what we feel best, but while the bike is under warranty I will stick with what my mechanic says and then I have no concerns about the MC using oil as an excuse if anything happens.
As always it's interesting to read others views.
We are now hard out into our summer riding Down Under...Life is Good!!!!

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