I just recently purchased my first Harley & i'm getting close to my 1000 mile mark & i'm not giving the dealership my left arm to do my service. I've always done my own service but my old bike(07 GSXR 1000) it was only oil & filter. I bought a service manual so i know what all I have to change I was just wondering what motor oil, primary, & transmission lubricants I need to get. Thanks for any help.

 

They put Syn3 in all 3 holes when the dealer did my 1,000 service. Definatley have did mine ever since have been using Amsoil 20W-50 in the motor and primary and use 75W-90 in the tranny. seems the be a little quieter and smoother shifting.

 

Amsoil is an excellent product but if it's not readily available, you won't lose anything if you go to the Auto Parts store and get Mobil 1 V-Twin 20W-50. It's almost everywhere. Wally world has it for around, or less than, $9 a quart.

On the AMOUNT of oil to use? Be vewy, vewy careful. The book sez 3 quarts in the crankcase? Bull snot. More like 2 1/2 qts. Max. The primary is more like 29-30 ounces. Same-same with the tranny.

I changed my oil while on the kickstand. Piece of pie. If the oil is overflowing out of the primary, it's over-full. Do not fill past the tip of the closest clutch plate. Like I said, about 30 ounces. Same with the tranny, do not overfill. You can take a 2 liter coke bottle, cut it up and use it to catch the oil from the oil filter. There's somewhere on here a thread showing you how. Buy the Drag Specialties oil filter slip on tool, most dealerships have them on the floor. It's a lot cheaper than a new Crank Position Sensor.

Buy and USE the new O-Rings. $1 a piece, IIRC. Buy and USE the new Derby cover gasket. If you want a fancy-shmancy Derby Cover, this is the time to replace the stocker.

Torque is important on virtualy ALL of Harley's fasteners. You can spend $265 apiece on a Snap On or do like I did and bounce over to Harbor Freight and pick up a couple of cheaper-than-dirt, Chinese Slave Labor Torque Wrenchs for $20 apiece. The 1/4" Drive Inch-Pound and the 3/8" Foot Pound. If you want the 1/2" Drive Foot Pound, go for it, but you won't need that very often. Read their directions, make sure they work and don't trust ANY Foot Pound wrench for torque readings under 16-17 ft lbs. Use your In Lb and convert -- One Ft Lb = 12 In lbs. Simple. Oh yeah, gotta watch those Chinese wrenchs, they have readings for newton meters and centimeter something or other as well as Ft/Inch Lbs.

The cheap ones aren't nearly as accurate, but let's face it. You're not working on the Enterprise's Warp Drive. It's a Harley and they usually give readings like, "Torque to 20 to 25 Ft Lbs." Just set it in the middle, like to 22 Ft Lbs and go for it. It can't be too far off. Hopefully.

Go over your critical fasteners. If you're unsure, leave it alone until you are. You'll learn a lot about your bike doing all this. I was bored and decided to check my exhaust header stud nuts. Loose. I think it called for 10 Ft Lbs torque (don't count on that being accurate) in the manual. So I grabbed my handy In Lb torquey, set it to 120 In Lbs and I got at least two full turns out of one and the other three were loose as well. Refer to your Service Manual for tightening sequences. I did.

Good luck. Not only will you save a bunch of money but the truth is, you'll know it's been done. With a dealer, you don't always get what you think you're getting.

 

Great response, that about covers it. Answered a few things I was wondering about as well

 

Thanks a lot for all the info, it will be very helpful. I have every torque wrench(good ones) & tools you can think of so no problem there. I actually hit 1093 miles today so as soon as my service manual comes in(hopefully Monday) i'm going to do my service. I aslo have a motorcycle jack, would you recommend doing it on the jack or just on the kickstand or does it really matter?

 

Change the fluids on the jiffy stand.

 

One tip: when you remove the derby cover off the primary mark the top hole with a piece of tape. Then on the inside of the cover use a scribe to mark the top hole so you can return the cover to it's original position. Derby covers often warp to the shape of the primary cover so returning it to the same position will prevent misalignment leaks. I re-use my derby gasket 2-3 times before I replace it. Also, if you want to ditch the stupid easy to strip POS t-27 torx screws on the derby go to the hardware and get 5 allen head stainless socket cap screws that match the torx size. ($2)

 

A lift is handy for R&R-ing the derby cover and for filling the primary case.

Your owners manual tells you all you need to know regarding fluid changes and what to service & when.

 

You might like to ck out my post on a do it yourself oil drain funnel to keep oil off your front motor mount. Its on page 152 in the under $50 section.

https://www.hdforums.com/forum/dyna-...ml#post6786897

 

Interesting hands on info. Thx.