Harley Oil Change Clutch & Primary Chain Adjustment

Next in our service, we're not only gonna drain and replenish the fluids, we're gonna adjust the clutch, the primary chain, inspect the clutch cable and service the kickstand. Starting with the kickstand, we wanna get just a little lubricate, in the bottom and the top portion of the slide assembly. You can hear a difference. From there, this will be our primary fluid drain plug, always make sure your kickstand stop is intact, this will be our oil drain. It's clipped securely to the bottom of the frame with a conventional style clamp.

Anytime you're underneath your bike, inspect it for any leaks, any seepage, any collection of road debris. Also inspect any wires, any cables, anything that routes along the lower portion of the frame. I'm gonna start by draining the primary fluid. Pull the kickstand out. The normal thread, will thread it out.

Whenever you're draining fluids, have a clean towel ready to plug naturally how fluid on it, you can take the plug right out, get it to a towel a little parts cleaner, you actually have a clean piece to set aside before you refill the primary. A quick note, any debris you may see on the drain plug, a new motorcycle it's basically normal. On anything with mileage, let's say 15, 20,000 miles on it, there may be an inherent problem you may wanna check out. We'll set aside the drain plug from the primary fluid, we've got our oil drain clip hanging down, we'll use a screwdriver, we're gonna loosen the clamp. I like to use a little cleaner just to wash away any road debris.

As I pull this drain, Mark will pull the dipstick on the other side of the motorcycle out of the oil tank. That'll allow for adequate ventilation while the oil is draining. With the clamp cleaned up, we'll set it aside with the drain plug, you can also clean up the frame clip. Again it's a good time while you're under the frame, inspect anything in this area. Your master cylinder reservoir lines, your rear brake line, any nuts and bolts.

Now is the time you check for torques and tensions. Make sure everything drains thoroughly. While the fluids are draining, I'm gonna open up the Derby cover. Even when you're loosening this cover, always use a crosswise pattern. That way you don't run the chance of warping the cover whether you're removing it or reinstalling it.

You'll also know when this cover is loosened and removed, that the fluid drains much easier out of the primary. With all the bolts removed from the cover, again like any Chrome or painted piece, you wanna make sure you don't lay it finish surface down so it gets scarred. Mark will take and set that aside in a clean place, any time you have this cover off make sure this quad ring stays intact. Next I wanna remove the inspection cover. It's gonna be an Allen style opposed to a torque style, gonna loosen them evenly, you'll note that there's an O-ring behind each countersunk bolt.

Like any O-ring on this motorcycle, if it needs to be replaced during service do so. It avoids leaks, it avoids doing the job twice which is the point of doing it ourselves. Both screws removed, this little cover will pop out of there sometimes with a little assistant. Again, this is a Chrome cover, definitely wanna put it aside, Mark will put it up on a clean towel on the bench. There's now a rubber seal opposed to a fiber gasket, it is reusable, don't reuse it too many times, it's cheap enough to replace, to avoid leaks.

This actually gives us a clear view of the primary chain. With both of our fluids draining the engine oil in the primary fluid and the covers and the dipstick removed, adequate ventilation allows for quick removal of the fluid, with the dipstick out of the oil tank. It also reminds you there's no oil in the oil tank, you put the dipstick back in, you fill it at that point. The oil that we're draining out of this is also still hot from when we did our charging system check. You wanna try and drain your fluids when they're warm it holds up any debris, anything like that in suspension, in the hot fluids.

Next, let's adjust our clutch. We'll remove the spring, and what's known as the top hat. Always know direction, when you're taking apart pieces like this. set them aside. What I like to do is just loosen the ball and ramp mechanism by turning it clockwise just to touch.

We'll move upwards towards our clutch cable, you'll note it attached to the frame with a clip. You can remove the top clip, it gives you much easier access to the accordion boot on the clutch adjuster, again model specific, year specific that attaching mechanism will be different. know your bike, know what you're working with before you start putting wrenches onto cables and to your drive line. a little bit of ViperLube inside the boot will be accordion. Mark will bring me over a 9/16 and a half inch wrench, I always like to wipe things.

Again disposable towers are the way to go. They get dirty, you can get rid of them, get yourself a clean one, when you took the dirt away from the bike you're not wiping it around. You wanna hold the lower half inch, you wanna crack the upper 9/16. Once they're loose, you can run the 9/16 all the way to the top of the cable. This point you can hold up slight pressure and loosen the cable completely.

This'll leave no threads showing on the adjuster mechanism. At this point, you should be able to put your clutch lever directly to the handle bar that tells you that none of the clutch mechanism is operating. At this point I wanna take a moment and just discuss lubing clutch cables, throttle cables, any of the cables. Most cables manufactured nowadays are Teflon lined. Lubricate is not necessary, sometimes it's mandatory due to riding conditions and environments.

Make your own call, don't over lubricate if you insist on lubricating it all. With all of the free play removed, I'm gonna go back to our Derby cover area, I'm gonna take up turning counter-clockwise, I'd like to go back and show you. You can actually see the ball and ramp mechanism, returning on its own, as I make this adjustment. You wanna go with that counter-clockwise until you just feel tension. Once you just feel tension, come back a quarter of a turn.

That will be the factory preset for the clutch adjustment. With that turned back a quarter turn clockwise from the tight position, we can re-install our top hat and our outermost spring. You wanna use caution to line up the flat with the adjustment screw. You don't wanna change your adjustment, just to put the nut back on, to the ball and ramp mechanism. Back forward, another clean towel, back forward to the clutch adjuster.

The handle you'll notice now is not on the handlebar, it's just off. That is the distance that we set with the ball and ramp. Go back to the cable adjuster, hold slight pressure. Start threading it out, you'll see the threads start to expose. Leave the lock nut up top.

Watch your hand lever. You wanna bring this nut, this entire assembly out just close to where your free play measurement should be. You wanna rock that hand lever two, three times. Make sure that ball and ramp is engaging good, you wanna adjust this cable so you have 1/16 free play at the cable. Again, another note clutch cable final adjustment is gonna be rider preference.

Some people with smaller hands prefer the clutch grabs closer to the handlebar. Some of us like it to grab way out so you don't have much clutch travel. Once you know your bike, you can make these adjustments yourself. It's just about infinite the combinations for riding preference. When you've got it set to factory specifications, you can run down the lock nut.

Use your half and your nine holding the bottom, tighten the top, hold the top and tighten the bottom. You can slide your boot back down, make sure it's good and snug, don't over-tighten it. The lubricant that's left in the accordion boot it should be enough to keep the cable lubricated until the next service. Snap the clip back on, we've completed the clutch adjustment. I'd like to take a look at the primary chain.

That'll be the second small cover that we removed, it exposes the chain. Now this chain has to be done precisely. It has to be done in a tight spot in its rotation, this one we just directed to that area we've rolled the motorcycle to the tight spot of the chain. As you can see, this chain is within factory service spec, but I would like to show you how to adjust it. You wanna use your 7/8 wrench, loosen the outer lock nut.

With a quarter inch Allen bit, we can turn the lock nut out, you'll notice at this point, it creates a lot of play in the drive chain. We'll turn if this was this loose, what it should never be on a normal service schedule, we'll turn it in until we achieve our 3/8 to half inch cold specification. Once we achieve that measurement, we'll snug it down with the wrench, and then we'll use a torque wrench the 20 to 25 pounds, foot pounds of torque. We'll torque it, anytime you torque an outer nut, on an inner threaded adjustment, always double check your measurement after you torque the nut down. It's primary chain adjustment.

I know I wanna re-install the drain plugs. I'm gonna start with the oil drain line, always make sure the end of the line is clean, make sure you put your clamp on, to plug in make sure it's all the way into the hose, and tighten your clamp up. Don't over tighten it, you don't wanna cut into the hose with the conventional style clamp. This point you can clip it back under the frame, the oil line drain is complete and re-installed. Our primary drain plug, you'll notice there's an O-ring, the O-ring should be replaced, if it doesn't look like it's in good condition, again it's a cheap enough item where it can be replaced easily enough.

If you don't need to replace it, just a small amount of tough line paste on the threads, I prefer the paste over the tape, you can reinstall the plug into the case, always run the threads in by hand so they're not crossed. The reason I like the paste over the tape is if you don't wind the tape correctly around the bolt, it'll unwind itself as you thread it into the case. From here I'll use the 5/8 socket, I'll tighten it up, I'll use our torque wrench and torque it to 14 to 21 foot pounds. With the plug in and torqued, again nice clean towels, wipe your way up as you finish an area. It saves a lot of clean up time when you're working and when you're cleaning the bike later.

This point I'm gonna re-install the primary fluid, 32 ounces of full quart. Always work from a sealed container, don't take for granted a container has been opened has in it what it says it has in it. Keep your towel in your hands so you can catch the extra out of the funnel. Stick it right back in your open container. Set it aside.

Wipe up the surface any inspection cover area where the primary chain is, check your gasket, it'll only go one way. Make sure it's nice and in place, Mark will hand me the inspection cover. Again, it'll only go, you can't put it on backwards. Be familiar with your bike, holding in place, you'll use the two countersunk Allen screws, again check O-ring surfaces, the O-rings need to be replaced, now's the time. Always start threads by hand.

These are all aluminum covers, if you cross the thread, you may destroy the thread in the cover more so than the bolt. Tighten them by hand. Now there's two specs for this. You can run 40 to 60 inch pounds or you can use seven to nine foot pounds. When you're dealing in the lower increments in foot pounds range, if you have the option to do it in inch pounds, use the inch pounds measurement.

I'll set this right at 60 inch pounds. The inspection cover for the primary chain is now serviced, re-installed, the fluid level is full. Our top hat stayed in place, the adjustment hasn't changed. Make sure it stays there when you clean up and check the O-ring, this is what's known as a quad seal. It's not really an O-ring, it's not round it's a square seal.

Doesn't ask to be replaced every time, has to be inspected for overall condition. With the quad seal in place, I'm gonna re-install the Derby cover, you'll note under Sportsters, there's a notch that indicates the cover with the cable location. Always check, make sure your top hat and spring have stayed in place and the seal is in place. Re-install the cover, I like to start the top bolt, always start and bolts by hand, don't tighten one any more than the other until you've got them all in the cover. With all the bolts re-installed in the cover and drawn down to snug by hand, we can not use a torque wrench, double check make sure everything is in snug torqued.

Now that the drive line is serviced, we wanna use a little paper towels, fold them up in a nice square. A little glass cleaner, you can wipe up any lubricant, residual or fingerprints you may have on your Chrome, if you keep it folded up, you can always fold to a nice new clean surface. Again, you don't wanna push dirt around on your Chrome. That's why we prefer disposable towels. Oil filter, removal and replacement.

I'm gonna use the K&N replacement filter, again, always work with sealed packages from sealed containers. Don't take for granted that anything's brand new in an open box. With the filter out of the box, if you fold the box carefully, you can slide it up under your oil filter. Much like many products that are offered, you've got a cup style available through Jim's tools, there's also a strap wrench style for oil filter removal. Use what you're most comfortable with, but more importantly use what works on your particular model.

With the box in place, I'm gonna loosen the filter about a turn, turn, turn and a half. Just until I can see waste oils start to drip out of the filter and start to run down. At this point leave it, let it drip out. You can get your new filter prepped, this particular service I'm gonna use Spectro Golden American Semi-Synthetic 2050 bland. I'm gonna add four ounces, the bottles are marked incrementally on the outside.

I'll put four ounces into the filter, use a little of the extra to make sure the gasket surface is wet. By this time you'll know our old filter has just about stopped dripping. We can remove it completely from the oil filter mount and put it in our drain pan. You'll know the cardboard's caught the majority of any of the waste oil, but it's a good idea to use a little metal parts cleaner just to wash any debris, always make sure when you remove the old oil filter that the gasket that seals the filter to the mount, this one here comes off with the filter, does not remain on the mount. The oil filter cleaned, I'll wipe it up a little bit, I like to leave the cardboard in there.

'Cause upon re-installation of the new filter, you may lose a little bit of the new clean oil. You'll start to thread it on by hand, always start things by hand don't cross-drive them. You're gonna put the filter on until it just contacts to filter mount and tighten it to the half, to three quarters of a turn. Again, make a good habit of wiping up the areas that you service as you go, it makes cleaning the bike after you serviced it a lot easier. You can remove your cardboard, and spray just to touch your brake cleaner, in case some of the waste oil did drip onto the crank case and you've replaced the oil filter and replenished it with enough oil to start up now that the oil has been drained.

With the oil drain plug re-installed, the oil filter filled with four ounces of fresh oil and re-installed the oil filter mount, Mark's gonna refill the oil tank. We've used three full quarts of oil for this service, four ounces in the filter, the other two quarts and 28 ounces will go into the tank. I like to check this once the bike is back on the ground and has been restarted after the service. I don't like to overfill these motorcycles, but I do like to run as much engine oil in them as possible. The oil is what carries the heat away from the engine and allows the air cooled engine to cool.

With the two quart and 28 ounces back into the tank, this oil dipstick again is an O-ring sealed surface. Inspect the O-ring make sure it's in good condition. If it's not replace it. I'm gonna re-install the dipstick cap, it only go one way, half a turn, popping in the tank. The oil's completely changed.