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Do any of you do your own oil changes?

C

cmtbasser

New Member
I was thinking of doing mine myself is it a pain? , I can dispose of the old oil and filter no problem (legally!)
 
Check out the oil section of the self help forum using the link below this post. It's not a difficult thing to do at all.

Usually any gas station or parts store that sells oil will take your old oil.
 
Yup sure do, I also do the tranny and primary myself.

As far as the oil is concerned is easier than a car or truck. No crawling on the ground.
 
I would be willing to bet that the majority of people here do their own oil changes. It's easy, and will save you tons of money. The stealers charge a lot for it.

I dispose of my oil into a bucket. When the bucket is full, I take it to Auto Zone and they get rid of it for free. One piece of advice: Get the Harley service manual for your bike. You'll be surprised just how much of the maintenance you can do yourself.
 
I am not lazy but believe you can't beat a man at his own job... I let the Harley Dealer do mine. Several times they have found other issues that I would not have... yes I trust them and they have never ripped me off. Most of the time the other issues have not cost me anything. I use the mechanic from the dealer on the side for special projects that I do not want the dealer to do. Usually most mechanics have a work shop at home and work on bikes. My father-in-law was a mechanic by trade and after coming home from work having dinner he always had a project to do in his garage even completely rebuilding engines and transmissions. Once he told me he made more money in his own garage than his day job... I have a heart for those kind of people....
 
Do lots of my own work...not because I don't trust the dealer but because I love messing with stuff...lol Was a HVAC tech for 37 years I guess messin with stuff never gets out of your blood. Since I've join this site man have i ever gained tons of knowledge ( just wish i could remember it)...lol Always loved gettin my hands dirty..so I also think most of us here for different reasons do a lot of our own stuff....but if it gets too big then off to the dealer I will go...lol You gotta get you a manual however...if for no other reason just to see how and whys of your bike.Also I invested in a couple of CD's and with the manual and the CDs its made a lot of things easy..the CD's are "Fix My Hog". Good Luck
 
I change the oil in my bike, my truck, and my vette. Use to change the oil in my boat when I owned one. You had to stand on your head to get the oil friler on that 5.7 liter in the boat. I enjoy doing it and feel no one is as careful as I am. Getting to the point where replacing brake pads on the turck just hurts my legs too much to stoop down. Use to have to do the work because I couldn't afford to pay to have it down. Now I have the tools but would rather pay the local garage to do most repairs. I feel there is a certain amount of pride in knowing you did it yourself.
 
Just to clarify, I never said the dealers are rip-offs. I'm just saying I don't like to spend money to have someone do something I can easily do myself. Doesn't make much sense to me. Harley gets the money anyway, I just spend it on things for my bikes!
 
WHM1 said:
I am not lazy but believe you can't beat a man at his own job... I let the Harley Dealer do mine. Several times they have found other issues that I would not have... yes I trust them and they have never ripped me off. Most of the time the other issues have not cost me anything. I use the mechanic from the dealer on the side for special projects that I do not want the dealer to do. Usually most mechanics have a work shop at home and work on bikes. My father-in-law was a mechanic by trade and after coming home from work having dinner he always had a project to do in his garage even completely rebuilding engines and transmissions. Once he told me he made more money in his own garage than his day job... I have a heart for those kind of people....
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I guess if you have a good dealer that you trust that does a good job going over your bike, you just might be getting your moneys worth. On the other hand ( like in my case) , If you find that when you go over your bike after paying for a service and the stuff you paid for was never done, Well, it validated my decision to do my own oil changes and perform my own services. Now I know for sure that the fluids are getting changed and the service checks are getting done. My service manual is worth it's weight in gold.
 
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