OK guys, I've been wrenching for years and am wondering what this oil is that I dumped out of my tranny of my 08 ultra? It has 280 miles on it, and the tranny oil smells likesaw dustfrom fir logs.It was hot when I drained it.I know, sounds crazy... [sm=alcoholic.gif][sm=alcoholic.gif]but I'd like to know if thats normal, or is it the new Formula+ oil? I put the F+ back in , and it just smell like gear oil. Any thoughts

 

You'll get a lot of suggestions here I'm sure.

I can only speak from my experience. I have an 07 Streetglide.

I let the dealer do the 1k service just to make everyone happy. They put formula+ in all 3 holes. That's the official Harley recommendation for all service personell.

Now, in my case - I changed out the tranny fluid for Redline Shockproof at 2k, the primary to Redline MTL at 4k and the engine oil to Mobile I V-twin at 4500k.

Just my opinion..if you do your own service I think there are better options than Formula+ across the board. Just my $.02 though.

 

Pick yourself a high quality synthetic oil, pour that F+ on a brush pile and never touch that stuff again. There are so many better products out there that cost about the same.


nogood o~`o

 

I hope you mean syn3....formula plus would toast your engine in very short time..

I have read that the HD primary &transmissionlube is nothing more than a 40w motor oil. It's kind of frustrating that HD won't put any viscosity information on their lubricants. That in itself makes me steer clear of them. As for your transmission, it is fairly well known now that people are getting better results with most any GL5 rated 75w90 gear oil. Lots of people are using Mobil1 75w90 that you get at Autozone, AAP etc. Me personally. I like Redline Shockproof Heavy gear oil the best. Check it out at www.redlineoil.com . It is rated at 75w250 and really quiets your trans.

 

Syn3 can be used in all three holes, Formula+ cannot.
Ratcat- I wouldn't worry about the oil smelling bad when it was drained; I had the dealer do my 1k service & they put Amsoil Severe Gear in the tranny. I've done all my servicing since then and when I drained it out at 2500 miles (1500 miles on the oil) it stunk and had a lot of metal particles in it. That doesn't mean the Amsoil is bad oil, just that the tranny is breaking in. Like KB I'm currently using Shockproof Heavy in mine (it seems to quiet the 5th gear whine a little better than other oils) and am more than happy with it, but I wouldn't hesitate to use Formula+ if I had to. Are there better oils out there? Yep. Do you need them in your transmission? IMO no, but that's your call.

I have tried other oils in the primary (Amsoil, Redline MTL) but Formula+ seems to provide the best clutch engagement in all temperatures, so I'll continue using it.

For your tranny Formula+ will work fine, as will any brand synthetic or dino gear oil. It isn't an extremely taxing environment for the oil, and considering most tractor-trailer transmissions and differentials run dino gear oil for thousands of miles without being changed, I wouldn't worry too much about your H-D transmission destroying its oil- especialy if you change it every year or so.

As for Formula+, here's some product data & other info I picked up from the web:

Harley Davidson Formula+
Application: recommended for heavy-duty service in manual transmissions where the manufacturer normally recommends either engine oils or GL-1 lubricants.
Specific Gravity: 0.857
Pounds per Gallon: 7.14
Viscosity, ASTM D 445,
cSt at 40°C: 168.04
cSt at 100°C: 20.10
Viscosity Index, ASTM D 2270: 139
Brookfield Viscosity, ASTM D 2983,
cP at -26°C - 28,800
cP at -40°C - n/m
Pour Point, ASTM D 97, °F (°C): -60 (-51)
Flash Point, ASTM D 92, °F (°C): 507 (264)

Petroleum based.

Ca 169
P 230
B 210
S - some
Zn - essentially none
No other elemental additives.

Vis. within SAE 50 range.

Listed as a GL-1, tests out as a GL-3.

 

Hey...
You guys are great! Thanks for the input.
Sun is shining today in washington, I'm going riding...[sm=biker2.gif]

 

I use Formula+ in the primary and Amsoil SVG 75/90 in the tranny. Redline shockproof heavy or Mobil1 75/90 is good too.

 

My bust - I mean't Syn3.

I used the formula+ in the tranny on my earlier bike though and like the redline better.

 

HD doesn't give you much data on their lubes- is Formula + a 20w50? Are you guys saying the tranny can use 20w50 or 75w90?

 

There are guys running heavier gear oild than 75/90 in their transmissions with no problems at all. I have an aquaintance that sells Amsoil, so I am running 20/50 in the engine and primary, and 75/90 SVG in the tranny