oil for h-d primary
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There are a few. Amsoil used to recommend Amsoil 10w-40(AMF) Motorcycle oil, but now that HD has the new screaming eagle tri-syn 20w-50 that can be used in all three cases, Amsoil states you can also use their 20w-50(AMV) motorcycle oil. Please note that the Amsoil motorcycle oils are the same as the car oil, just a different label.
The retail price for the Amsoil 10w-40 is $5.85 and the 20w-50 is $6.55. If you purchase it from an Amsoil dealer on this site, you may be able to get it cheaper. Even if you can't, the 10w-40 isn't much more than HD's primary fluid & the 20w-50 is much cheaper than HD's tri-syn 20w-50.
There is also Golden Spectro, Mobil 1 motorcycle oils, and I'm sure there are a few I forgot. There are plenty of synthetic motorcycle oils. There are also a few synthetic diesel oils than can be used for this situation. In fact, the "bob" in "Bob-is-the-oil-guy" runs a Schaeffer's synthetic blend in his bike with no clutch problems. As a rule, most try to stick with a 10w-40 (for the primart only) that doesn't use molybdenum as a friction modifier due to possible wet clutch issues. Most car oils have moly & some diesel oil also have moly. Therefore, it is a good idea to stick with motorcycle oils.
I will be putting Amsoil in my 93 FXSTC very soon (with the exception of the tranny which will get schaeffer's - a personal preference). I will change out all fluids before it goes into winter storage and run them from spring to next year at the same time - I'm planning on about 6-8k miles next summer.
I almost forgot 1 thing -
[ October 26, 2003, 11:06 PM: Message edited by: medic ]
The retail price for the Amsoil 10w-40 is $5.85 and the 20w-50 is $6.55. If you purchase it from an Amsoil dealer on this site, you may be able to get it cheaper. Even if you can't, the 10w-40 isn't much more than HD's primary fluid & the 20w-50 is much cheaper than HD's tri-syn 20w-50.
There is also Golden Spectro, Mobil 1 motorcycle oils, and I'm sure there are a few I forgot. There are plenty of synthetic motorcycle oils. There are also a few synthetic diesel oils than can be used for this situation. In fact, the "bob" in "Bob-is-the-oil-guy" runs a Schaeffer's synthetic blend in his bike with no clutch problems. As a rule, most try to stick with a 10w-40 (for the primart only) that doesn't use molybdenum as a friction modifier due to possible wet clutch issues. Most car oils have moly & some diesel oil also have moly. Therefore, it is a good idea to stick with motorcycle oils.
I will be putting Amsoil in my 93 FXSTC very soon (with the exception of the tranny which will get schaeffer's - a personal preference). I will change out all fluids before it goes into winter storage and run them from spring to next year at the same time - I'm planning on about 6-8k miles next summer.
I almost forgot 1 thing -
[ October 26, 2003, 11:06 PM: Message edited by: medic ]
I have come to the conclusion that fairly well any 10w40 should work in the primary. If you are set on using a syn, you can't go wrong with M1, Red Line or Amsoil. It depends on how much you want to spend I guess. Personally, I'm going to run dino in mine as I don't see where there is need for syn in the primary. There is a link to a good article on synthetics in motorcycles in the Interesting Articles section that touches on this topic.
Don't Harleys use gear oil in their primaries? A Buddy of mine has a Buell and am pretty sure that he has Mobil 1 gear oil in it.
Some guys on the badweatherbikers forum say they use Mobil1 75w-90 gear lube. Bob gave me some 239s for my Buell.I'll change my Buell over to it this winter.
Bob had the Harley Sporttrans analyzed and found this Schaeffer lube to be appropriate.
Mark
I took it that harley-v was talking about a primary that didn't share fluid with the tranny. Certainly don't use 10w40 motor oil in a Sportser/Buell shared sump.
I put M1 75W-90 GL-5 gear lube in my Sporty trans-primary a little while back. I have been riding the **** out of it and have had no problems with clutch slippage and the primary chain does not seem to slap around quite as much. A little different than your app but not that much different.
Okay, to clear this up for everybody - the Buell & Sportster models share a primary case & transmision sump - Harley states that you can use the screaming eagle tri-syn 20w-50 for this shared case (I'm not sure what SAE wt. the harley dino lube is for this case) and therefore, the Amsoil 20w-50 (AMV) can also be used.
The other Harleys, otherwise known as the "Big-Twin" (unsure about the new revolution engine) have three different cases all requiring their own separate lube and can be treated as stated in my last post.
The other Harleys, otherwise known as the "Big-Twin" (unsure about the new revolution engine) have three different cases all requiring their own separate lube and can be treated as stated in my last post.
The HD Sport Trans Fluid is 13.69 cSt @ 100F (low 40 weight oil - very, very low 90 weight gear lube) per the VOA listed here:
http://theoildrop.server101.com/cgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=11;t=000141
The HD Primary Fluid is 14.2 cSt @ 100F (mid-40 weight oil, low 90 weight gear lube) per the VOA at the same link.
The M1 75w90 GL is 15.2 cSt @ 100F per Mobil's data sheets so it is within a tolerable weight range for the primary but as there aren't any gears in the primary, I really don't see a need for all the EP agents a GL contains. Plain old oil will keep the primary chain sufficiently lubricated at a far more reasonable cost.
[ October 28, 2003, 11:39 AM: Message edited by: doyall ]
Perhaps, but if the MoCo labels what has been called by others a plain 10w40 motor oil for use in the primary, and as an alternative says their 20w50 motor oil can be used, apparently there is little need for a gear lube. While I have heard of primary chains streaching or breaking, I have never heard of the sprokets in a primary wearing out, although after enough miles anything will wear out. Just don't think the extra cost of a gear lube is warranted in this application.
I did run gear oil in my primary, but I read (I'm not sure of the validity) that the GL-5 oils have sulphur in them which is corrosive to the copper/brass that makes up the stator... also in the primary.
I just switched over to M1 15W40 and will run it for a short while just to clean the primary up... Then I'll switch to maybe Amsoil or maybe just put M1 back in.
a 20W50 Dino oil, or maybe the Valvoline 50 weight would work well too right? If gear lube works, and 20W50 syn works... Why not dino oils? It's all a bunch of marketing crap. It's not like the primary is extremely high tech...
My biggest complaint is that the primary oil gets contaminated with water. I guess it's from condensation. Everytime I change mine, it looks like chocolate milk.
My biggest complaint is that the primary oil gets contaminated with water. I guess it's from condensation. Everytime I change mine, it looks like chocolate milk.
Oops...don't know what happened with the reply..anyway, I've been using the 5-40 t&s M1 for the last year or so...seems to work very well..only put in one qt..change @ 5k...I don't get the lurch at morning first startup...
And just to throw a clinker in the works, I usually run Ford type ATF in my primary. Ran a Shovel that way for about 50-60k miles 'til I went to a belt drive. Primary chain was still good; just wanted the belt. Have been running the ATF in my Evo's primary since I bought it w/40k miles on it. It now has over 100k miles on it. Right now the primary has some M1 V-twin 20w-50 in it 'cause I had a quart left over. I'll go back to the ATF at the next motor oil change.
Hey Skip..I ran the F-type ATF for about 600miles a couple of years ago..I found it to be "harsh" I guess would be the best word...I know other guys who run it without any problems..I guess my question is ...is it just me or do you get that big clunck and a little surge with the ATF..??? I don't get it with the synthetics..I used M1 15-50 for years and just switched to the 5-40 a while back..both seem to do a good job but I'm always looking for a cheaper way to maintain things...thanks
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