Oil change on a Harley

[Burnerboy]

Yesterday a good friend of mine needed help changing oil on his Harley Road Glide or Road king .(??)..(Be advised I never owned a Harley/only Goldwings) I thought how hard could that be, I have changed oil on every motorcycle I've ever had.....(and that's many)

I read about you Harley owners talking about the "three holes" to do an oil change, but never really thought about it, all's the Honda owner's have to do is open one bolt and drop the oil/and change the filter....

Now I'm a fairly good wrench, when it comes time to service motorcycles, BUT Holy cow what a pain in butt it is too replace all the oil and filter on a Harley....

Do you really have to take that side (round cover/with eight screws off and fill that with oil also??? Plus you have to have different oil in each hole, one for transmission, one for motor, and another grade for whatever??

His bike doesn't have a kickstand (side stand only) so I had to sit on it and hold it straight up so all oil will drain out completely...[were talking about a two wheel m/cycle] Now I can fully understand, why it cost HOG owner so much to service their bikes.....His oil change took approx 2 1/2 hours, of working, just to replace all 3 holes with different, types and grades of oil..... WOW!

There's got to be an easier way??? And like I mentioned above, does that round cover have to be removed, and pour oil in there??

Thank you!

I know you HOG owner will be shaking their heads in mis belief reading this post but again please be advised this was my first/an only oil change servicing Harley

Ronnie

[Jack Klarich]

Welcome to our world

Yeah it can be time consuming

I measure what I drain out, this may take a bit longer, But I now know how my fluids held up and I can document this also

Some run H D Syn3 oil in all 3 holes as H D suggest, it keeps from having to stock 3 different lubes Dont forget to check or change the O rings

[peteg59]

Do you really have to take that side (round cover/with eight screws off and fill that with oil also???

Plus you have to have different oil in each hole, one for transmission, one for motor, and another grade for whatever??

^...Sounds like your talking about the derby cover on the primary side? There's a drain bolt down low on the outer primary cover, so no need to remove the primary cover itself to drain the primary chaincase oil.

The derby cover should have 5 fasteners holding it in place, and if this bike doesn't have a chain inspection cover on the outer primary, you will have to refill through the derby cover.

On the bright side Ronnie, now that you have this under your belt it should come easier/faster on the next one?

Not sure why its in "loud" print, but at least you can still read it...

[FuzzyWuzHe]

Once you know how to do it, you're talking about a 30-45 minute job. And, the primary and Transmission are only like 20k changes (although I do mine more often, so I may be wrong about the frequency). I do the primary and Transmission every 10K or every spring, which ever comes first. But I use Red Line in both the Primary and Trans (not the same product in both ).

And if you want to talk time consuming ... LOL ... ever changed your Gold Wing air filter ... 2 1/2 hours at the dealer (they do lots of them), 4 hours if you only do it like every 2 years. And, do you actually check your crank case drain when you do your Gold Wing Oil Change as per the manual? That's six screws and the little rubber caps to get the left valve cover off, then pull the plug and wait.

I've had many of both bikes, Harley's and Gold Wing's, love both. Both have pluses and minuses. But, if your gonna wrench, with the Harley everything is looking at you ... no plastic (Tupperware as the BMW riders call it, owned a few of those too) to remove.

[Jack Klarich]

Harley calls for 10k on the primary and 20k on the tranny now, I do both @ 10k

If it makes it faster for you you can pull all 3 drain plugs @ the same time ( I crack the torx bolts on the derby cover first just because)

Doing a change this way you can walk away whilst the fluids are draining

I fashion a cardboard funnel under the oil filter, before I crack it lose so the oil does not drain down the front of the engine or frame

Also @ 12 and 6 o'clock on the filter I poke holes in the end cap of filter with a nail. This vents the filter and starts the draining of the filter also

[Burnerboy]

Thanks guys, I see were never too old to learn, new tricks, thanks for the come-back, I'm thinking about renting a Harley, for our next vacation, I really have to try one out for the very long haul....

Two years ago wife/I rented a Harley when we toured Alaska (amazing place to visit) BUT it was a 883 and not a Ultra or Road King so I really didn't get the true Harley experience.. And the fact that we rented one, I didn't have to replace oil(s) or filters.....

Thank you for the added school'ing here, guy's, I learned something today..O' yea Fuzzy, your are correct about that dreaded air filter and tupperwear on the Honda...never thought about that!!! Having no tupperwear to worry about is a big plus for sure! and the air filter, O'yea, last time I replaced mine, I went through a case of beer, and said more swear words then I even knew, I knew (say that three times..LOL)

Thanks guy's

Ronnie

[eagle1]

1. change the torex screws to allen head bolts. available on-line.

2. after you fill the oil tank start the engine (idle only)with the oil filter off.the oil will trickle out. you'll get about a quart off dirty oil before it turns clean.

you can cut the bottom off of a 1 leeter soda bottle and slide it over the oil filter base. to reduce mess

3. red line trans lube makes the trans shift smoother. also its pink in color,which is good because if you have a pink tent in the clutch oil when you drain it, you know you have a bad seal between the trans and primary.

[FuzzyWuzHe]

you can cut the bottom off of a 1 liter soda bottle and slide it over the oil filter base. to reduce mess

I use a silicon baking sheet rolled up to direct the oil away from the frame ... clean it with paper towel, store in a zip lock bag and reuse as necessary ... LOL.

Recently purchased 2 long funnels at Harbor Freight for $3 (for both) ... the labels had come off ... one for engine, one for tranny ... ... marked with a sharpy as to which is which, stored in zip lock bags.

I also have revised my maintenance schedule for the three holes:

Engine at 4k

Tranny at 8k

Primary at 12k

I put around 10k a year on my bikes/trikes ... so usually do everything each spring ... In this neck of the woods ... I worry about condensation, plus, I'm ready for riding season ...

All the above using redline products