On Fri, 29 Apr 2005 13:18:13 -0500, Morgan Kane
<morgankane65plug.TakeThisOut@yahoo.com> wrote:
>I will be doing most the services on both the Sportster and FLHT.
>
>I did the 1000K and it was simple.
>I think the local stealership charges $300+ for that service.
>
>the 10K one is $490 I think.
Yep. It's a lot of money to have a dealer do it - the 10K service
especially. For folks who go through a rear tire every year, then
that's another expense that often gets added on at the same time.
Doesn't take long before you're looking at an $800 bill.
>The manual explains everything really well.
>Most of the stuff is fluid change, check fasteners, etc.
>Not very complicated.
<snip>
I've been doing the 10K services on my bike for several years and, the
first time I did it, I spent so much time I almost wished I *had*
brought it in and paid somebody to do it!
But fortunately, like all things, you get better at it as you do it
more. At the risk of being condescending, maybe I'll offer a few
tips?
First things first (I'm sure you know it, but I'll mention it for
others...): Don't tighten those two exposed head bolts beside the
spark plugs! If you do, oil will be pissing out of your base gaskets
by the time you ride the bike half a block.
I don't know what year FLHT you've got (a good reason for people to
put that stuff in their sig lines, btw) but, if you have the air
suspension, the service manual's method of replacing the fork fluid,
drawing it through the air nozzles works real snazzy.
*If* you have a vacuum device to draw the fluid through the system,
that is (Hmmm. Maybe ask Bill or Brian if you can borrow one of their
penis-enlargement tools...). Otherwise, it's sort of a rotten job,
'cause you have to get the exact right amount of fluid in.
The vacuum device (wherever you get it
will be handy for replacing
brake fluids too, without introducing air bubbles (draw it down from
the bottom nipple and keep filling the master cylinder on top - don't
let it go empty or else air gets in).
Might want to put a little thread sealant on the nipple where you
attach the vacuum or else air gets by. For the front brakes
especially, Harley brakes are only just barely up to snuff when in
perfect condition, so I think the changing of those fluids is
something you shouldn't skip.
For the secondary drive belt tension, if you don't have the special
gauge, twisting it 45 degrees radially between your fingers is a
pretty good indicator. It should give you some good resistance to the
twisting action, by the time it twists that far. If it's real easy
and twists to 90 degrees before giving substantial resistance, the
belt's too loose. Real hard and it's too tight. Those belts are
expensive to replace, but will last a long, long time if you take
proper care of them.
I've had a very experienced Harley mechanic tell me that you don't
ever need to grease the neck bearings. He might be right, but I
grease them every 10K anyway.
When untightening the lock nuts for adjusting your clutch cable (which
passes nearby the rear of your front fender), cover the fender with a
leather jacket or something, in case the nut breaks free suddenly and
one of your monkey wrenches strikes the fender (no need to ask me how
I know that one, right?).
When taking the wheels off while the bike is up on a lift, you gotta
be careful because things become suddenly unbalanced.
It's good to have a C-clamp handy when replacing the brake pads; to
compress the cylinder into the calipre, making room for the thicker,
new pad.
When pulling of a rear wheel, I always take the rear brake calipre off
first. Seems to make it easier to get the wheel back in later.
The flat steel wrench that comes with the bike's toolkit is handy for
grabbing the left-side bolt when loosing and tightening the axle but,
when putting the wheel back on and finished tightening the axle nut,
you gotta remember to take that flat wrench off *before* putting the
cotter pin in (which will trap the wrench there! - again, don't ask me
how I know that either).
On my bike I've done oil changes every 2,500 miles (twice as
frequently as the book requires) and have used synthetic oil from the
get-go. After over 80K miles that engine is almost still like brand
new. Frequent oil changes using good oil (I use Mobil 1 15w-50) is
one of the cheapest and most important things you can do for your
bike.
Hope someone's found some of the above useful.
--
Instead of swerving, I should have been reloading
(remove _NO_SPAM_ to reply)
98 FLTRI
83 Nighthawk
RCOS#7
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