Trans Oil Poll

R. Lewis

you say that you---

avg. 10k miles yearly--6 harleys--20 years-- eng.,tranny.,primary down several times --- and you put Rev-tech in all 3 holes?

roaddawg4life

hay R Lewis yes everthing is true .my 1st hd was a 47 ,45 chopper that was a wild ride .my 2nd a 76 super glide our dog was killed & it was stolen from our back yard .3rd was a77 super glide we put a lot of money in this one and showed it for awhile ,but it was aways a every day rider , then at the same time we got my ol lady a 80/80 lowrider .i then ended up with my first evo my 94 springer and last my ol lady has a 97 ,1200 custom sportsteer . as for other bikes i have owned and built several bsa ,notons ,triumphs (to any ol riders from the mid west i was the guy that bought scuz from fortwayne Ind out of all his british parts and basket cases )now as far as takin down my springer im always doing something new to my eng i did a slight build its punched 10 over weisco pistons ,manly stainless steel valves, sever duty springs jims roller rockers, crane roller rocker shafts ,my heads ported & polished,, compcam adj push rods , my cam is a 3020 vthunder ,a t&p oil pump , a dyna 2000i ignition without the voes , a42mm mukini carb , james gaskets, vance & hines long shot pipes un capped, i know every one going to say you need back pressure but lee the head carb tech at mukuni told me i,could run the straigth pipes with the muk if i put bolts in the exhaust. plus many other mods to my bike . but that what i do to all of our bikes .yes un popular but i ran rev tech in all 3 holes .as for my miles i dont own a car my ol lady does i prefer to ride, plus its at least 80 miles to any good sized towns so i put on 10k a year i wear out tires and brake shoes every year i hope this answers your questions any other quetions on my bikes my area feel free .most everthing i wrote can be verified by gary osborne bike shop in fort wayne indiana just ask about (easy)thats me
later roaddawg4life

07ROADKING

this is a Ford - Chevy Debate to each his own Ride ON.Welcome aboard Roaddawg I'm new to this site as well. and the folks here are very knowledgeable and helpful. i use Amsoil and a lot of folks think its snake oil the reason i use it is i use to Drive trucks for a living and many large fleets use Amsoil and Rotella-T(Dino) most of these trucks have 16 gallons of oil in them so to change oil even every 10000 miles adds up all the big fleet trucks run bypass filters and have there oil analyzed every 10000 or so miles by a lab such as Blackstone and they will tell you how much additive is left in the oil and how much life is left among other things they can detect antifreeze-bearing material- silicon-iron all kinds of things anyway like i said go to any large truck garage and i bet you see a drum of Rotella-T(SHELL)or Amsoil and it is not because it is cheep it is because it has a very good additive package in it i must also say i do not sell Amsoil or Rotella-T or know anybody who does. i also run Rotella-T syn in my F350 Diesel pickup. my last truck a F350 7.3 liter powerstroke diesel had almost 400.000 on it before i sold it . the motor still ran fine but the rest of the truck was coming apart .i ran Rotella-t Dino oil in the 7.3 but anyway that is why i use Amsoil. but i to have to say i don't like the way they market it but it works for me just my 12cents

joyflyin

Hey Glider, I didn't take the poll, since, as of 3 weeks ago, I didn't care.......my bike had @4000 miles last year, I got it from a dealer with 1900 on it, and I'm now up to 6500. I have no idea what is in there anywhere now, (I do hope that I have engine oil in the engine though) so I told the hubby I wanted to take it in and have everything changed to what you recommend. I figure that will be the true test, if the girl can tell a difference.... But seriously, I would guess that the guys last summer went ahead and gave it the 5k service, they're pretty good about taking care of me, but just to be sure, that's my plan. Oh yeah, that got me 'the look' like "you want to do what?" Not that he wouldn't expect that out of me and all, but I think I caught him off gaurd.....;)

glider

Joy

As long as they don't push the syn 3 in your bike you are doing good.

The GLI will do a fine job in your trans as will the GL5 also but that has more additives in it for the helical gears found in the 6 speeds. It's just not needed as much in the 5 speeds.

A good choice would be

Mobil 1 V Twin in the engine
HD Formula + in the primary
Spectro GL1 or GL5 platinum in the trans.

I've tried a lot of different oils and this is the combination I finally settled on as far as what I feel works best in all areas.
You may have to pick up the oils above ahead of time because not every dealer stocks them.

Next step is to do the oils yourself. It really isn't hard at all. If you can bake a cake you can do the oils yourself with just a few tools. You would be very surprised at just how easy it is and you know what would be in there then for sure.

Here's the engine drain from the top and bottom.





The trans oil you drain between the shocks with a 5/8" socket and extension and the primary is right below the clutch derby cover at the bottom of the cover.



THEN, when you get good at it you can try this too.

Complete Oil Change (softail) - Harley Davidson Community

__________________
Psssst!
Please stop by the "self help section" for maintenance tips, diagnostic codes and much more.
click me!>>Self Help Information and Tips<< click me!

joyflyin

Hey, hey, baby steps for me.....ha, ha. Last week I didn't even know there were 3 holes to put oil in....LOL. (different types of oil that is) I used to wrench my own mountain bike, but that was a few less moving parts. I will definitely do some reading first. I can see the addition to his workshop getting bigger...his & hers workshops, I like it.

Vibratinharley

I changed the trans oil to amsoil SVT in my 2008 ultra and I absolutely think the bike shifts harder now than it did with the harley oil. Not the smoothness I expected. It seemed to work well in my 1990 but not the new bike. I am thinking I will try the GL5 . Oh and I am curious, does the GL 5 have that nasty gear oil smell that the amsoil has? I noticed when I dumped out the oil that was in trans from harley, it smelled like plain old motor oil.

__________________
2008 Ultra Classic in all crashed up dark blue pearl
Stock Induction, Stock Exhaust, Xied's and
Alloy Art Touring XR Stabilizer (Wobble Fix)
No good deed goes unpunished!

glider

The GL5 does have a smell to it, maybe not quite as bad as the gear oil that we are use to but none the less it does work VERY well in my 6 speed, more so than the Mobil 1 gear oil I did use at first.

Once in the trans, the smell becomes secondary in any event.

__________________
Psssst!
Please stop by the "self help section" for maintenance tips, diagnostic codes and much more.
click me!>>Self Help Information and Tips<< click me!

HTC'sFLSTC

I used the Syn3 and the 6-speed quieted down and shifted a little smoother. Does the Spectra smooth it out more and is the heaver weight oil OK to use in ambient temps 60 and below?

glider

HTC'sFLSTC

Even if you put brand X in the trans, get the syn 3 out of the trans and you would be better off. It's a motor oil and not a very good one at that as compared to the group 4 oils. Syn 3 isn't a true synthetic for openers but a modified group 3 oil (dino oil)

The Spectro is about the best choice that I have found to date and I have tries many. A bit expensive as compared to others but well worth it. You will see a noticable difference when you use the Spectro and especially over the Syn 3.

Take a look here.

Oil Groups Explained - Harley Davidson Community

__________________
Psssst!
Please stop by the "self help section" for maintenance tips, diagnostic codes and much more.
click me!>>Self Help Information and Tips<< click me!