Harley dealer had a free BBQ

[Trampas]

I went to a bbq put on by a harley dealer 30 miles south of me, had your choice of chicken or steak sandwich and I chose steak, they also had a pea salad which was pretty good, drink choice was water, lemonade or tea.

I would imagine around 100 + bikers there, good turn out and food was good, they do this every 3rd weekend of the month thru the summer months. I was walking around and looking at bikes and trikes from old to fairly new, I only seen 2 that had external breather on them. I did see my 2002 road king while I was there and got to talk to the owner, he is very happy with it, I'm glad he is, it is a bike I should have kept, oh well. I did ask him if was interested in a hitch for it since I have one that was on the bike, he said no, dang, was hoping I could get rid of it plus I have another hitch that was on my 1997 FXSTC.

Ok question, out of those bikes only 2 had external breathers on them, does that mean most don't care about external breathers, I know my mechanic said put one on if it is a spitter otherwise you don't need it. I have checked my air cleaner 2 times so far this year and throttle body is pretty dry. I have most of the stuff for a external breather, got another back plate to drill, have the hose plus a filter, just need to buy the other hardware that goes with it from my local hardware store or the big box store.

Give me your thoughts on external breather, I know some have it and I would guess some don't, wish their was a poll on here to find out. I know DK sells them plus their are other outfits selling them also, now they a transmission top cover to help vent, pretty pricey also. If it isn't one thing its another.

All for now Trampas

 

[rhino 2]

I went to a bbq put on by a harley dealer 30 miles south of me, had your choice of chicken or steak sandwich and I chose steak, they also had a pea salad which was pretty good, drink choice was water, lemonade or tea.

I would imagine around 100 + bikers there, good turn out and food was good, they do this every 3rd weekend of the month thru the summer months. I was walking around and looking at bikes and trikes from old to fairly new, I only seen 2 that had external breather on them. I did see my 2002 road king while I was there and got to talk to the owner, he is very happy with it, I'm glad he is, it is a bike I should have kept, oh well. I did ask him if was interested in a hitch for it since I have one that was on the bike, he said no, dang, was hoping I could get rid of it plus I have another hitch that was on my 1997 FXSTC.

Ok question, out of those bikes only 2 had external breathers on them, does that mean most don't care about external breathers, I know my mechanic said put one on if it is a spitter otherwise you don't need it. I have checked my air cleaner 2 times so far this year and throttle body is pretty dry. I have most of the stuff for a external breather, got another back plate to drill, have the hose plus a filter, just need to buy the other hardware that goes with it from my local hardware store or the big box store.

Give me your thoughts on external breather, I know some have it and I would guess some don't, wish their was a poll on here to find out. I know DK sells them plus their are other outfits selling them also, now they a transmission top cover to help vent, pretty pricey also. If it isn't one thing its another.

All for now Trampas

I don’t use one…Never had a spitter once I learned years ago that if you don’t fill the crankcase right to the top mark it doesn’t spit…I keep the level 3/4 up to the full mark…

 

[Jack Klarich]

You cant beat peace of mind, go with it

Most are not even aware of the gunk going into their intakes via the breathers

All HD engines without external breathers spit a bit of oil and all spit condensation

Condensation is a byproduct of combustion

Anyone that says their bike / trike does not spit one or both is ill informed

Without an external breather the gooey mess is sucked into the intake via vacuum, if not a big spitter of oil you would never know this

 

[nucseal]

Do the hillbilly method with a pill bottle for a 1K and you will see how much comes out, if your not convinced. When I was using this method after 2500 mi, I had the pill bottle almost filled half way with oily water and gas remants. Made me a believer in the EBS.

 

[pigfoot63]

I've have run one of Jack's pill bottle breathers since I first saw his post. It's hard to beat the price on these they work great and install is quick and easy.

I did a 150 miles in the mountains yesterday and come home and checked my pill bottle and although it was much it was in the bottle and not my engine.

If you are on the fence about running one this fix is easy enough for you to try and see.

 

[gfaltersack]

external breather

I put an external breather on this spring and I'm very grateful to DK Customs for their design.

After 14000 miles this year my plugs look better, the engine runs great and for some strange reason the oil stays cleaner longer (40,343 on the bike total)

Regarding the statement of filling "crankcase" less than full to avoid spitting. Here is what I learned the hard way with a 2017 trike with sumping issues and replacement of the engine twice!

Harley runs a dry sump type system in that the oil is stored in a chamber and pumped through the engine and back to the chamber. My Milwaukee 8 pumped more oil in than it could pump out (not a balanced situation and not enough testing by Harley) One cannot run more than perhaps 8-10 ounces in a Milwaukee 8 sump area (under the crankshaft) (or known as the crankcase) or else the oil foams up from the crank hitting it. Then the oil pump cannot pump the oil and the engine starts to melt down!

Filling the oil to the fill mark on the dipstick means full in the oil chamber and not in the crankcase.

I'm running a 2015 Twin cam presently and I have no idea how much oil can safely collect in the crankcase before it hits the crankshaft.

 

[Dan SC]

When I bought my 2019 Electra Glide Standard, I had no intention of running external breathers.

I have always kept the oil on the lower half of the dipstick (I have never been one to constantly worry about oil level, in my opinion if it shows up on the stick you have enough).

But during an unplanned teardown at 15,000 miles I saw that the tops of both pistons were encrusted in carbon, so much in fact that I could not see the arrow that shows which way is front on the piston.

I scraped the crud off with a plastic scraper.

I routed the breather hose out of the air cleaner and routed it overboard.

The way the OEM breather hoses are configured in the air cleaner, I think the engine actually sucks some of the oil into the throttle body.

Since rerouting the breather I have not seen so much as a drop on the end of the breather hose.

When the warranty runs out on my `22 Tri Glide, I will reroute its breather also.

 

[gfaltersack]

when i bought my 2019 electra glide standard, i had no intention of running external breathers.

I have always kept the oil on the lower half of the dipstick (i have never been one to constantly worry about oil level, in my opinion if it shows up on the stick you have enough).

But during an unplanned teardown at 15,000 miles i saw that the tops of both pistons were encrusted in carbon, so much in fact that i could not see the arrow that shows which way is front on the piston.

I scraped the crud off with a plastic scraper.

I routed the breather hose out of the air cleaner and routed it overboard.

The way the oem breather hoses are configured in the air cleaner, i think the engine actually sucks some of the oil into the throttle body.

Since rerouting the breather i have not seen so much as a drop on the end of the breather hose.

When the warranty runs out on my `22 tri glide, i will reroute its breather also.

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your pictures and testimonial are awesome teaching tools for those wondering about external breathers. If you don't mind saying what was the unplanned tear down all about? Greg

 

[JTJersey]

Here's a pic of what was in my home made catch can after 125 miles. Glad it's not going into my motor.

 

[Dan SC]

Here's a pic of what was in my home made catch can after 125 miles. Glad it's not going into my motor.

View attachment 114396

That stuff forms in the overflow catch can.

After the hot vapor cools off, the moisture in the air condenses and causes that mess.

With the OEM breather hot vapor goes into the engine, not the outside moisture, so that stuff won`t form inside the engine.

When the oil filler caps were the vent for the crankcase on some car engines, that goo would be all over the openings on the bottom of the filler cap during winter.

 

[Dan SC]

your pictures and testimonial are awesome teaching tools for those wondering about external breathers. If you don't mind saying what was the unplanned tear down all about? Greg

When the bike warranty ran out I decided to install the latest version of the M8 oil pump (my bike was one of the last to get the old pump).

While I was in there I installed new lifters (Johnson Hy-Lift) and S&S lifter guides.

I decided to replace the inner cam bearing, it broke during removal, so I split the cases to make sure there was no debris in there (it was clean).

 

[Dan SC]

Trampas, you might consider having a Moderator change the title of this thread, you started a good conversation but a lot of members might pass this thread up with it`s current title.

 

[Dan SC]

I have always kept the oil on the lower half of the dipstick (I have never been one to constantly worry about oil level, in my opinion if it shows up on the stick you have enough).

Edit: I realized I worded this incorrectly too late to edit the original post.

I meant to say if the oil shows in the marked area on the stick you have enough (If it doesn`t show on the stick on an M8, you are reeeeally low on oil.:xzqxz:

 

[Trampas]

Trampas, you might consider having a Moderator change the title of this thread, you started a good conversation but a lot of members might pass this thread up with it`s current title.

I know what you mean about the title, looks like there has been over 1,000 view it anyway. Just wanted to let me people know about what I saw at the BBQ and only 2 people had external breathers. Just got done doing the drilling on a pill bottle, will try that being that is pretty simple. Will take out my K&N filter and put the stock one back in so I can check the bottle every so often, with temps over 100 this week it won't be this week doing it, to hot in garage and no air in garage, I wish but that is ok. I have the hose and a filter for the external breather and a plastic plug for the hole in air cleaner, also picked up a freebie back plate and also some stock hoses that goes on the breather tubes, will have to go my hardware or big store for the barb style fittings and then will be good to go, trying the pill bottle first and see since I have pulled my air cleaner off 2 times this year and it is pretty dry so to speak. I do run my oil low, it is about half way up on the dipstick when cold check and I check it once hot, was surprised but it was the same as the cold check, not sure if that is good or not, motor sounds good and it runs good.

All for now Trampas