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Oil Change Advice

ultra pearl

Member
I know the maintenance schedule of my bike with reguards to oil changes.
But I have been reading here and other places that some guys change oil/trans and primary every time they put their bike up for winter storage.
I use to do this with my metric, when I only had one lot of oil but the Harley has three lots.
If you're gonna change every fall, what's the point of the schedule. Trans and primary are 10,000 & 20,000 respectivily.
Any thoughts.
 
Living in Texas does not require me to put the bike up for winter storage as we are lucky enough to get to ride year round but if I were to put it up for storage I would do it just as cheap insurance. Is it neccessary? Maybe not, but then again a lots of ideas shared here may not be neccessary but do give one a sense of well being and a warm fuzzy feeling to boot :D

Better to over maintain than let things go to long IMO.
 
In my opinion,
It depends on how much you ride. If your bike sits for 3 or 4 months on a battery tender in a cool damp garage/shop, with out turning. humidity tends to condense in the cases. That is water and that isnt good.. hence the winter oil change weather it needs it or not. One might consider using a less expensive grade of storage oil as break down isn't a problem if the engine isn't turning...
If you live in a more moderate climate, regular schedualed oil changes are the rule... I use HD Screamin Eagle. I ride 10 to 15 k per year
 
I know the maintenance schedule of my bike with reguards to oil changes.
But I have been reading here and other places that some guys change oil/trans and primary every time they put their bike up for winter storage.
I use to do this with my metric, when I only had one lot of oil but the Harley has three lots.
If you're gonna change every fall, what's the point of the schedule. Trans and primary are 10,000 & 20,000 respectivily.
Any thoughts.

Engine oil is the lubricant that suffers the most deterioration...it has to clean and keep dissolved combustion byproducts, water condensation, and breakdown due to wide hot/cold cycles. The others do not suffer as much in the short term, so that is your choice. If you commute on lots of short trips, deal with long stop and go high heat operation and such, the short change schedule in your manual or as you have been doing once every time you put bike in winter hibernation (if you are parking it for 3 months or more...you do not want water, combustion acid/byproducts causing internal corrosion to take place, along with the winterizing of your bike). :s
 
I live in the north east and just changed all three fluids using the hd dealer reccomended stuff and now it seems harder to shift gears smoothly, and I still have trouble finding neutral. ! What could I have done wrong? this is the first oil change for me since I bought the bike last fall?
I used the right amounts of fluid levels and went by the book, HD Engine oil, HD Primary chain oil, and Bel Ray 85-140 gear lube. Took bike for a 2 hour ride yesterday after oil change and all felt fine till today when it was cold it seemed alot harder to shift smoothly. Does the gear lube need to be warmed up considerably before it make shifting smoother?
Any and all thoughts would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks in advance,
Bob
 
I live in the north east and just changed all three fluids using the hd dealer reccomended stuff and now it seems harder to shift gears smoothly, and I still have trouble finding neutral. ! What could I have done wrong? this is the first oil change for me since I bought the bike last fall?
I used the right amounts of fluid levels and went by the book, HD Engine oil, HD Primary chain oil, and Bel Ray 85-140 gear lube. Took bike for a 2 hour ride yesterday after oil change and all felt fine till today when it was cold it seemed alot harder to shift smoothly. Does the gear lube need to be warmed up considerably before it make shifting smoother?
Any and all thoughts would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks in advance,
Bob

Easy Clutch Adjustment Method - Harley Davidson Community try this first before you change your fluids again
 
I live in the north east and just changed all three fluids using the hd dealer reccomended stuff and now it seems harder to shift gears smoothly, and I still have trouble finding neutral. ! What could I have done wrong? this is the first oil change for me since I bought the bike last fall?
I used the right amounts of fluid levels and went by the book, HD Engine oil, HD Primary chain oil, and Bel Ray 85-140 gear lube. Took bike for a 2 hour ride yesterday after oil change and all felt fine till today when it was cold it seemed alot harder to shift smoothly. Does the gear lube need to be warmed up considerably before it make shifting smoother?
Any and all thoughts would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks in advance,
Bob

If you are in a cooler climate then i would try a slightly lighter oil in the gearbox adjust the clutch and if you are still having difficulty selecting neutral then raise the revs a wee bit when selecting and it should slip out of gear easier

Brian
 
Switch to a better oil in the transmission then what HD recommends. Some spectro will have you happily finding neutral.
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The other day I posted about my shifter lever sticking in the down position in 1st gear... end result was take shift lever off; detach fron end of linkage, pull lever out from the boss and clean and re-lube. My bike shifts better now than any HD I've ever riden. Silky smooth! It still has the typical HD wet cluch clunk when it's cold, but that is to be expected. Looking at the year of your bike in your profile info, you might consider taking the shifter apart and clean and lube it.
 
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