primary oil change

[whizzer]

Since a trike is upright during draining of oil, has anyone noticed if it takes less oil to refill the primary or is it still one quart?

[msocko3]

It will take a quart, I always fill to where it just comes to the bottom of the clutch.

[swampride]

Manual says 1.4 qts. Does that mean just changing fluid or does that mean if you take outer primary cover off?

[FLTR2008TRIKE]

I have always used 1qt of primary oil in my touring bikes since 1990. I change mine each time I changed the engine oil. The primary oil has all the wear material from your clutch mixed in it. Fresh oil will help the inner primary bearing on the transmission shaft last longer as well as your clutches.

[TNTriker]

The service manual says 38 oz and that covers the very bottom of the clutch basket. It should be changed every 10,000 miles.

[10rhrk]

Manual says 1.4 qts. Does that mean just changing fluid or does that mean if you take outer primary cover off?

38 oz wet. 45 oz if you remove the primary cover. Don't know where the one quart comes from.

[FLTR2008TRIKE]

I havent seen the 6 ounces less causing any issue in any of my primary cases on my bikes I have owned. The primary chain and clutch is in a un-filter bath of oil that is splashed around inside the primary case when the engine is running.

As far as the manual stating the primary oil should be changed every 10k miles its your choice to follow the HD manual instruction. I will continue to change the primary oil with one fresh quart of oil each time I change my engine oil

[10rhrk]

I havent seen the 6 ounces less causing any issue in any of my primary cases on my bikes I have owned. The primary chain and clutch is in a un-filter bath of oil that is splashed around inside the primary case when the engine is running.

As far as the manual stating the primary oil should be changed every 10k miles its your choice to follow the HD manual instruction. I will continue to change the primary oil with one fresh quart of oil each time I change my engine oil

Not a problem! That's the great part about owning and servicing your bike. You can do what you want with it. I for one trust the Engineer's that designed these bikes. I would suggest to anybody that's thinking about servicing their Triglide, buy a service manual and follow it. I do that with all my Vehicles as well. Never let me down yet!

BTW, I have 25K on those 20K mile wheel bearings and they still feel like new. I might just set a new record..

[Oldmsocko]

BTW, I have 25K on those 20K mile wheel bearings and they still feel like new. I might just set a new record..

You must have greased them every 5,000 miles.

[10rhrk]

You must have greased them every 5,000 miles.

Absolutely Mike, I'm anal about greasing my bearing's..

[Lakeman]

What are you talking about "20,000 mile" bearings?

[10rhrk]

What are you talking about "20,000 mile" bearings?

The front wheel bearing's were referred to as being only 20K mile bearings by a Triker on this forum. Anybody can call them what they want, but there is no such thing. Some have bad experiences with wheel bearings on their Harley's. I have not! I've never had a problem with them on any of my bike's..

[FLTR2008TRIKE]

Im the one who posted about my wheel bearing failure in less then 20k miles. While "many" are lucky enough to not have had a problem there are many who have.

Heres a link to read about others who have had bearing failures >>>

Front wheel bearing failure 2010 - Page 3 - Harley Davidson Forums

[10rhrk]

wheel bearing failures have been small compared to the number of Touring bikes and Trikes on the road. I hate to see new owner's get scared because of post they read. I've already had one new owner PM me saying he was thinking about selling his Trike. After reading some post on here he was afraid he wouldn't be able to afford the upkeep. I simply told him to keep an open mind and do his own research. I'm sure he will find theres nothing on his Harley that's set to fail at any certain time if it's maintained according to the service manual. The wheel bearing's are more than adaquate for the load they carry.

[FLTR2008TRIKE]

I myself want to know about failures/problems/technical service bulletins when it comes to my motorcycle/trike. So if someone shares a problem/failure of a part that is related to my trike Im more then happy to take the information and keep it for a reference to a "possible" problem that could occur.

These wheel bearing are not failing because of load, they fail because the manufacture of the bearing has a lower quality control to save themselves money. These sealed non-serviceable wheel bearings now have limited amount of grease to again save money. So now Harley uses a low bid supplier who makes a cheaper made non-serviceable bearing that Harley's bean counters can save a few cents on every dollar to make the bottom line look better.

Harley had tapered bearings that never failed that could be removed, cleaned, re-packed with fresh grease and re installed with new grease seals. Those bearing only failed if the owner didnt do the regular maintenance.

Adequate bearings might be ok for you but they dont cut it for me. I like the best I can get. And if sharing what I find out with others makes me out to be someone who might be over reacting to you, then so be it.

Also for the record, Im not a new owner or rider. I have well over 350k miles and 30yrs of riding locally and cross country . I have lived through a horrific hit n run that almost cost me my life, the loss of my left leg above the knee along with several other permanent injuries I have to live with for the rest of my life. I still work on, maintain my trike from either my wheelchair or sitting on the floor.

[10rhrk]

I myself want to know about failures/problems/technical service bulletins when it comes to my motorcycle/trike. So if someone shares a problem/failure of a part that is related to my trike Im more then happy to take the information and keep it for a reference to a "possible" problem that could occur.

These wheel bearing are not failing because of load, they fail because the manufacture of the bearing has a lower quality control to save themselves money. These sealed non-serviceable wheel bearings now have limited amount of grease to again save money. So now Harley uses a low bid supplier who makes a cheaper made non-serviceable bearing that Harley's bean counters can save a few cents on every dollar to make the bottom line look better.

Harley had tapered bearings that never failed that could be removed, cleaned, re-packed with fresh grease and re installed with new grease seals. Those bearing only failed if the owner didnt do the regular maintenance.

Adequate bearings might be ok for you but they dont cut it for me. I like the best I can get. And if sharing what I find out with others makes me out to be someone who might be over reacting to you, then so be it.

Also for the record, Im not a new owner or rider. I have well over 350k miles and 30yrs of riding locally and cross country . I have lived through a horrific hit n run that almost cost me my life, the loss of my left leg above the knee along with several other permanent injuries I have to live with for the rest of my life. I still work on, maintain my trike from either my wheelchair or sitting on the floor.

I'm sorry about the lose of your leg, that's a bummer.

I too would like to hear of problem's and service bulletin's. I told the New owner if he read something on a forum, do his own research before reacting to it. People have breakdowns from different reason's. Because a few have problem's, it doesn't mean he will as well.

I don't believe for one minute that Harley would go cheap on something like a wheel bearing that could jeopardise somebody's life and end up in a possible lawsuit against them. If I did feel this way, I would not own their product.
If what you said here was true, there would have been a catastrophic failure and the MoCo would have issued a recall.

I'll tell you what did happen. When harley switched to the 25MM deep groove single row bearings, they switched supplier's and at some point got a bad batch of bearing's. Soon as it was realized they switched bearing supplier's and added an A to the end of the 9276 bearing number to designate the new bearing's. They have several bearing supplier's for their bearings. It's understandable to get a few bad ones at some point.

Your riding years are impressive. I didn't just fall off the potato truck last night myself. I started riding in 1967. Not sure how many hundred thousand miles I've ridden.

I started my career dealing with bearings in 1960 with the US Army, 2nd Armor Division in Fort Knox Ky. Worked as a wheel & track mechanic in the motor pool. Came out of the Army and served a 4 year apprenticeship as a Millwright. Went back to night school while I helped raise a Daughter and got an Associates degree in Mechanical Engineering. up until 2007, I worked for one of the largest corporation's in the USA. I have several accommodation's for designing and upgrading Industrial Machinery. I do know a little bit about bearings.

The sealed bearing's used in HD's wheels are non-serviceable bearings. I have seen people pop the seal off one side a put some grease in and pop the seal back in the groove hoping to get a little more life from it, but if a bearing is bad, it's not going to last.

Several reason's a bearing fail's.

1 It's damaged during assembly and not caught by inspection. (very Rare)
2 It's damaged during the install process.
3 It get's damaged while in service by something hitting it or other abuse.

The cup & cone bearing's you spoke of are not used much anymore because of high maintenance cost and they must be set correctly during install or servicing. (Sealed Bearing's are much better in most applications)

These sealed bearings are used in high speed electric motor's and on front and rear axle's of Truck's and Automobiles. (Notice you don't see grease fittings on cars and trucks anymore. The bearings last for several hundred thousand miles. They are obviously sized accordingly to the load and service.

Have a nice day and ride safe!