Harley-Davidson® oil change on a Softail

This is a pneumatic lift. I highly recommend you strap the motorcycle to the lift. Once this type of lift is in the air, I strongly recommend putting the lock down in the rear. That's going to secure that motorcycle. And then release the air so the motorcycle's sitting on the lock, not on the piston.

Remove oil tank dipstick, wipe it thoroughly clean, set it aside. The reason for this is that you know the engine oil has been drained on the motorcycle, and that it must be refilled before the dipstick's re-installed. Remove the transmission dipstick. Same procedure, wipe it clean and set it aside. This not only allows adequate ventilation for thorough draining, but lets you know that the transmission is empty at this point.

On the left side of the motorcycle, we're going to start by draining the clutch system, also known as the primary drive. Primary drain, engine oil drain, transmission drain up between the shock assemblies. It's a Torx style plug. Use common sense. Use good quality Torx.

Nothing worse than a broken bit into a blind holed plug. Drain pan naturally underneath. It holds about a quart and a half of oil. This operation you want to do with the motorcycle cold. The fluid, when it's hot, naturally can scald.

Next, we want to remove the oil filter. It is not a cartridge style. It is a one piece, spin-on style filter. Do not use this type of spanner wrench, due to the fact, when loosening or tightening the filter, this type of wrench can snap off the crankcase sensor. Always use this style strap wrench.

Much easier to work with and guaranteed no problems when loosening or re-installing the oil filter. Spin filter completely off of engine crankcase. Allow the rest of the filter mount to drain completely. Clean crankcase surface with brake cleaner only. Do not use carb cleaner.

It will disturb the black wrinkle finish. This is oil filter re-installation. Naturally, it's a brand new oil filter. Fill the oil filter halfway. You don't need to fill it right to the top, due to the fact you're going to hold it horizontal to re-thread it onto the crankcase.

Take a little bit of the oil and wipe the o-rings so you get a nice sealing contact surface. Horizontally, you're going to pop the oil filter. Try and do it quickly. You don't need to spill any more than necessary. Thread it until the o-ring just meets to the crankcase.

Half a spin more is more than sufficient. The heat from the engine crankcase will swell the o-ring and cause a nice seal. The next step is to remove the two covers on the outer primary, the round derby, the oblong inspection cover. Both of them are retained with Torx style T27 fasteners. We removed these two covers to allow adequate ventilation and quick drainage during the service.

The smaller oblong cover of the two is the inspection cover, which will expose the primary drive chain. Note there's two bolts that are long, two bolts that are short. Please note location when removing them, so they're installed in the proper locations. Don't lay these covers down on the chrome surface. Always lay them down on the oil side surface.

These two gaskets, the gasket behind this oblong cover, and the o-ring behind the round derby cover, or clutch cover, must be replaced with new pieces each and every time you service this motorcycle.