Hi everyone, first of all thanks for the help with the solenoid problem I had last week it is in and working. I started up the bike for the first time and it sounded great. I have a question about the oil tank. It did not come with a dip stick so I filled it about 3/4 full? I opened it up to check if the oil pump was pumping and as the bike warmed up the oil overfilled and started running out. I put the cap back on and tightend the seal until it stopped coming out of the top. Can anybody tell me where the oil should be when cool and does this system run under pressure or do I have a different problem? The oil running out looked a little odd but I think it was air bubbles mixed in with the oil. I assumed the oil pump is fine because of the oil squirting back into the top of the tank.

 

Your oil tank has three oil line connections.
One is the feed line to the pump, located on the bottom section of the tank.
Another is the oil return line.
The third is the oil pump scavenger vent line.

Inside the tank there is a stand pipe on both the vent and return connections. These stand pipes are identical and have open ends which end about a ½ inch short of the roof of the oil tank.

Here is my hand drawn illustration of what goes on inside an oil tank. This depicts a center mount tank, but a side mount tank is the same, just a different layout of the connection locations.......




The oil level in the tank should be approximately an 1-¼ to 1-½ inch below the roof of the tank. If you overfill it (you did) the oil will cover the return and vent standpipe ends.
Not too bad for the return, but it makes the vent operation impossible.

If the bike has sat for a week without running and you top off the oil tank with oil, then fire it up, there can be an excess amount of oil in the crankcase from it sitting, and this gets pumped back into the tank causing it to overfill.
So, always warm the engine to operating temp, then check and add oil if necessary............. pg

 

Nice drawing, man.

 

My '73 Ironhead started puking oil out the vent tube off the generator. It's been suggested I sheared the pin on the oil pump, no such luck, pulled it apart today. Any thoughts?
Also, my oil bag is a custom POS. It has the main line from the bottom but the other two lines dump into the top, nothing like the hand drawn picture, that an issue?
And if I want to have another custom oil bag made, should I have it designed with the two stand pipes?

 

The lines at the top are not a problem. The smaller one, 1/4", is for the vent line that runs to the back of the gearcase cover. The larger one is for the return line. The one at the bottom is the gravity feed to the back end of the pump.

It is normal for all old HD motorcycles to have oil leak past the check valve in the oil pump if the bike has sat unused for a period of time. What most guys do in this situation is put a can under the vent pipe to cvatch the oil, then add it back in.

 

I pulled the check valve at the front of the oil pump under the bike, inspected it per the book and it all looked good. Put it back and fired her up. I drained the case of oil before I pulled the valve, so she ran fine for 10 minutes without a single drop. I rode her to the Harley shop and on the way there, I kept fishtailing all over the road. The oil was draining out the vent tube that comes off the generator. Harley shop guy, an old-timer, said the oil wasn't circulating back to the bag. Either the lines were clogged or the pump was broke. As I said in my first post, I checked the lines and pulled the pump and no joy. My next approach was to redo all the oil lines, unless someone else has a better thought.

 

How did you managed to remove oil pump ? do you have custom frame ? anyway did you timed oil pump/breather valve ? if you didn't do it bike will puke oil from breather tube.
Changing/checking return line will be good point to start.

 

Only way to remove the oil pump was to pull the motor. So now she sits spread across half my garage waiting for this weekend so I can put her back together.
I didn't know you had to time the breather valve, I'll have to look those directions up in the book.
But, the oil leaking from the tube started before I even did anything to the bike. That was the first symptom. First thing I did after that was the check valve, and the story goes on... I'm thinking of bypassing the oil cooler when I put her together, keep the whole system as short as possible, see how she runs then.

 

Not only must you time the breather valve, you must also remove the timing cover to do that.
The cams are going to fall out, some will stay in and others will stay with the timing cover.
There are shims on each cam shaft. These could also fall out.

Do yourself a favor....... Remove the points assembly before you remove the timing cover. The center bolt threads into the end of the rear intake cam. If you fail to remove the ignition assembly first this cam will come out with the cover removal.
Then if you are lucky the cams may stay in place. If they fall out then you will have to re-time the cams.
Be sure to read this procedure carefully before you start removing screws and covers or else your workload is going to increase by the square root.

Regarding the check ball.........
What you want to do is buy another ball and a new spring. The one you have may look OK, but it ain't. A new one is needed. Spring and ball both............... pg

 

What PG is writing:
Turn engine in front cylinder TDC timing mark.
Remove pushrods, points,wire to points, advance unit. As you motor is taken from frame put it on side, cams up. Remove gently camcover, it's good to have new seal and gasket into cover.
Hint ! Oil lines are now easy to replace, if it's needed.
Check that camcover gasket thickness is same as it was before, because it effects cams endplay...
Markup shims end of the cams, both sides of the cams (crankcase and camcover) and remove cams other than rear exhaust. Check that timing mark is on correct position.
Check oilpump timing, reinstall pump if isn't correct.



It need's to BE IN CENTER not little off alike here



If you can't adjust it exactly center, the pinion gear may be need to removed and shimmed or it might be installed backwards. In pinion gear there is recess what is usually facing inside of engine and flat side out.

RECESS SIDE



FLAT SIDE



Reinstall cams, TIMING !! remember correct shims in correct places.
Check that engine turn freely.

You are done !