Just a heads up....when I first got my bike I brought it to a private wrench for it's 1000 mile check up....(this was after the dealer said he did it but I found dirty oil in the pan and a flopping drive belt so I just got away from him)

Anyway, I was sitting there with my wrench and he said " Hey Jim...just FYI your oil drain plug is just in there finger tight just FYI"

Long story short he drops all the fluids at my request and filles everything back up with AMS and I watch him torque the pan nuts.....

I go to change my oil this weekend at 5000 miles and the oil nut and the trans nut are both finger tight! I went to put a wrench on the oil nut and the nut moved while I was setting the wrench on the nut.

I changed the oil, replaced the rubber "O" ring on the nut and (as per the service manual) torqued it to 21 foot pounds. Did the same to the trans nut.

I'll be keeping an eye on these nuts from now on...how they loosen up by themselves (yes I know vibrations) is disturbing...

There were no oil leaks cause the o ring was still doing it's job......but to think that these things are loosening up by themselves is a bit scary.

Check yours and if anyone else on the 09 SG's notice the same thing...let us know. Thanks

 

I just called the wrench I used back at my 1000 mile check up.
He said he has noticed alot of bikes coming in with loose pan nuts. He believes it's due to the white teflon anti sieze lube that Harley recomends putting on the threads.
He's been putting the same stuff on (as the service manual calls for) but believes it is contributing (if not the cause) of the loose pan nuts.

I do remember seeing this stuff on the threads yesterday. He's probably right.
Moral of the story..........Check your nuts!

 

I'll keep an eye out. Thanks for the heads up. I've done all my own services so far. I dont use that anti-seize stuff, just snug it but not too tight. Seems to work fine for me so far. But it pays to watch out for these things...

 

Now I am going to have to check my nuts when I get off work. Thanks for the heads up.

 

Years ago I saw a guy go down after his drain plug fell out on the hyway and dumped all his oil under the rear tire. If the plug continues to loosen I would consider drilling the bolt head and securing it with safety wire.

 

Safety wire aey! Do you work in aviation?
I used to safety wire every nut on ch-46 Helo's back in the day....LOL
I didnt think anyone else used or new of that stuff...
I used to love the zip pliers that would spin the wire.......

 

After pulling the plug I use a dental pick and clean off the old teflon tape.
Wrap on new tape......never had one shake loose.......knock - on - wood.

 

Thanks for the heads up; I performed my 1K this past weekend. I replaced the O-rings and used teflon tape and torqed in accordance with the manual. I'll definetely keep an eye on them though.

 

Teflon tape and liquid teflon (pipe dope) are two different things. I just use the o-ring and no teflon and don't have any issues.

 

Yea I dont think this stuff was tape......it was more like a rub on around the threads type stuff...it was white though.