So I'm coming up quickly on the 5000mi checkup, what is involved in such a medical process and how much does it run, I don't want to get screwd, and can any one recommend anywear in socal san Diego to take it??

 

My recommendation is screw the dealer. Their prices will vary, but the service checks are not hard to do yourself. Buy a service manual for your bike. It will have a list of the checks that need to be done for the 5000 mile service along with instructions on how to do each. The book costs about $60, add the price of oil for the engine and primary/tranny, oil filter, and that is what it'll cost you to do the 5000 service. I would recommend getting a torque wrench and a set of torx bits too. Moral of my post, don't take the bike to the dealer for something you can do in a few hours.

 

What he said.

Your life depends on your ride being mechanically sound. You are going to want to go over after you get it back from the dealer anyway, so you might as well do it yourself.

 

My local dealer wanted $275...it was an oil change and a lot "check" this and "look" at that...i bought a service manual and did it myself, total cost...about $120, but i'll have the manual forever.

 

Don't know what year yours is, but mine is an '07 and does not call for a transmission oil change at 5K. It calls for one at the 1K, then at 10K and every 10K after that. It does call for an oil change of the crank case and a heck of a lot of checks in the critical nuts, bolts, belts, brakes, etc. etc. You can get instructions on how to do an oil change in the "Sticky" notes at the top of the main Sportster Forum page but I too strongly suggest you get a service manual. I purchased one on eBay that was just a downloadable version that is read on the computer using Adobe Reader. I like it a lot better than the hard copy version. One reason is I can print out what pages I need to do and if they get really dirty I can just throw them away (read as recycle the paper) and not worry about messing up the book. Or just take my laptop down to the garage to read right off the screen. The bottom line though is: GET A SERVICE MANUAL!!!!! You will be using it more often than you think.

 

Ditto!

 

Just completed mine a month ago..... Manual and some wrenches and you will be set!