FMH LIVE: Harley Maintenance 101 Review

Whether you're a faithful Fix My Hog followers or you just happened to be surfing the internet. You're a motorcycle enthusiast or you just happened to be tagging along for this ride. Welcome to Fix My Hog. I'm Bob LaRosa. I please, I highly recommend bookmark FixMyHog.com and of course we're social, Facebook and Instagram. I highly encourage you to join me sign up for the free newsletter. It's updated weekly, chock full of good thoughts, good ideas. That is Mark and I, or myself, depending on how you want to word it, created the Fix My Hog video franchise so to say, in 2004. The reason for that was we wanted to not make an army of Harley Davidson, PhD, certified mechanics or technicians but we wanted to give you a good thought on how your motorcycle works and how to maintain it yourself correctly. And even if you don't do the wrench turning at least it gives you a good idea of what you're paying for. Now that I've basically gone through the scripted portion. I want to take a moment and get back to basics. One of the most basic components of the motorcycle and again it's a real controversial topic is the spark plug. The spark plug itself does not create spark. The spark plug is merely a delivery tool that takes the spark, the voltage and the power from the ignition source and delivers it to the volatile fuel air mixture in your cylinder. Now I've come across more often than not, conversations that a lot of times I have to keep my mouth shut. And if you know me that's pretty difficult but for the most part, there's so much of an aura around the spark plug that I just want to take a little time and clarify some of how the spark plug works and what makes it tick. Again, the spark plug does not create the spark. All it does is deliver the voltage from the ignition source and ignite the air fuel mixture in the cylinder. There's two basic properties So to say of the spark plug, one is electrical and one is physical. The electrical side, consists of a resistor style plug and a non resistor style plug. You're only going to find non resistor plugs now in older, and I hate to use that term cause I'm one of them. older style point ignitions basically everything is now that's made, developed, designed and put into mass production is a resistor style ignition and plug, reason for that is you need that built in resistor in the spark plug in order to suppress the noise from the engine and the ignition system. So it doesn't interfere with the radio and a lot of the modern electronics that we have readily available to us on our motorcycles, including GPS's which have become just the norm. I don't know many people nowadays, other than myself who don't ride with a GPS, when it comes to the basic makeup of the spark plug, the electrical side of it's out of the way, all right, resistor, non resistor plugs. And the reason you need a resistor style plug nowadays is because for about 2002 upward they started using a Delphi ignition system that is what's known as Ion sensing. And what that does is it senses the resistance that the spark plug air gap is feeling while it fires. And what that does, It allows the electronics of the motorcycle to add manually or electronically So to say, adjust your timing, retarded up to four degrees. So if you decide you want to stray away from the stock configuration plug don't be surprised if that eye on sensing technology automatically disables itself. And yes, there's always other options. There are options that work but I strongly recommend running the correct OEM style plug for your application. Whether it's a bone stock motorcycle or it's a stage one upgrade, I can assure you. And I'm the guy who buys every product and tries everything I can just because I'm a tinkerer the stock plug will work perfectly fine in all applications stock or stage one upgrade. While I'm on that point. Indexing plugs, which means you're going to locate that center electrode and the ground electrode which I'll get into in the correct location to correctly ignite the combustion mixture. Please leave indexing plugs up to the full blown race crew for all practical applications. Don't over-complicate it don't overthink it. Stock plugs work fine. The make-up of the spark plug the physical property side. There's thread pitch and diameter. For the most part, XLs and Twin Cams all run, Oh I got to think. I'm sorry. XLs and Twin Cams all run, 12 millimeter plugs. big twins and shovel heads all run the larger diameter 14 millimeter plugs. All right. I do apologize our morning, a little bit late tonight traffic getting home to do this event for the Fix My Hog folk and anyone else just passing by was a little hectic tonight. So I'm a little bit behind schedule but I'm not going to rush through it. I'm going to try and give you as much info as I can. And I hope to have a bunch of time to answer a handful of questions. So I appreciate your waiting until I can get up in life but I'm running a little bit late. So again, I do apologize. So there's strength pitch in diameter, Twin Cams sportsters Evos and Shovels. When it comes to Shovel heads please make sure you're using the correct plug. Don't just take for granted that your buddy's 1970 FL plugs are fit in your 82 Shovel. Always use the correct plug for the correct engine application. From there, there is thread reach, which is the length of the plug that reaches into the cylinder head. There's also the seating surface Harley Davidson uses a flat ceiling style seat surface Don't use the tapered seal on a flat cylinder head seating surface.always use the correct plug. There is center electrode composite design, There is the actual ground electrical. Now please beware or be aware. I should say, all spark plugs have two electrodes, and I'm not talking about a multi electro design. I'm talking about the center electrode and I'm talking about the ground electrode. The grog electrode is the part that you move When you gap a plug. Now the ground electrode can be a multi electro design. So if you Opt to run those please make sure that they fit your application correct. And I just want to take a moment. I know I'm probably going to run long but I think this is an important tale or story. I'm doing my second favorite hobby besides motorcycling, I'm sitting in the local gin mill, just listening. It's one of those what I want to call a George thorough good night because everybody's funny now you're funny too. And I hear a conversation going on between a bunch of friends. It was pretty good crowd, and they were talking about how you need to run a hotter plug, to take care of a pinging problem on a particular motorcycle. In fact, it was a newer street glide. One guy went as far as saying, well your girl's just a little too big and you're loading up the bike too much. And it's causing the bike to ping or pre ignite. What pre ignition is, is the combustion chamber is getting ignited from an outside source prior to the spark plug actually firing. And I had to jump in again I'm a man of many words and I jumped into the conversation real long story short, actually I'm going to keep it a long story. I spent about three weeks straight not only troubleshooting what had been changed from the stock configuration but trying to test the particular aftermarket components which included fuel pack modules, spark plugs, spark plug wires, coils. I swapped back to stock, swap back to the parts the owner purchased and come to find out which no one tells you and those of you that are out there that know yourself well enough know you're guilty when something happens You're the last one to tell your local mechanic or someone that's trying to help you but come to find out the owner of the motorcycle put in a set of multi electrode. Now I'm talking about the ground strap, the adjustable portion of the spark plug, a multi-electrode spark plug. Ran motorcycle for an extended period of time and discovered that one of the electrodes had come loose, detached, burnt off, However you want to put it. And what happened that broken off electrode actually embedded into the face of the piston on the front cylinder and created a hotspot. So as that piston would travel up on the compression stroke that hotspot already being a glowing amber, the little, little tiny piece of the electrode was a glowing amber before the spark plug would ignite. And what this did it caused the combustion of the cylinder to happen Prematurely, precondition or pinging. I want as far as doing compression tests, leak down tests and eventually come to the point where I took the hat off. And there was the problem staring me in the face. You all know what the cure was. I do things correctly. I put two new pistons, did a valve job even though the motorcycle had low mileage. And to this day, it runs perfect with a stock set. I was spark plugs in it. Please try to avoid, the doodads, the unicorn dust, the I have new or any other snake oil promotional products I'm going to call them. And it doesn't say that they don't have their place in any industry. But my personal feeling is these motorcycles were designed and engineered to run stock plugs from the Harley Davidson dealer and that is my preference. Back to spark plug design. Along with thread pitch and diameter the actual center electrode the way the composition of the metal is designed the ground electrode configuration. There is heat ranges on spark plugs. Now a lot of people think the heat range, the higher, the heat range whether it's a hot plug or a cold plug dictates If the spark is stronger or weaker, that's just not true. When you run a cold plug in a particular application all that means is that the insulator knows of the plug. That is the portion of you that you see before the ground electrode is shorter and it allows heat to dissipate a lot quicker, they were great in high compression, high RPM high combustion like forced induction systems. You want to run a colder plug because you want that heat to get away from the combustion chamber and disappear through the cylinder head as quickly as possible. All right. Spark plugs themselves have a self-cleaning property. You need to keep them hot enough where they keep themselves clean, when the engine's tuned correctly. No. On the other end of the scale a hotter range plug, is typically a longer insulator before the ground electrode. And those plugs take longer to warm up. They're great for low Rpm applications touring models that have a tendency to lug up and down Hills. The longer the nose shield of the spark plug is the harder the plug will run because it takes longer for the heat to dissipate, to run down the plug and dissipate through the cylinder head. I just want to clarify that up and there's really no way to know what spark plug heat range your particular application will need until you just do some good old writing and testing. Don't forget he spark plug itself is the eye not into the soul, but into the cylinder. When you take a plug out and get a good look at it, you're getting a good clear view of what's happening in the combustion chamber. All right, that being said, there is really no set in stone color for a spark plug. I myself, like to run things a little bit warm or hot that way there my plugs typically are more a snowy or crystal white. Then again, I've got a lot of engines out there running that are, they run perfect. The owners log the application and they run a nice cocoa brown. What you wanna avoid is right on the fence or right on the verge of a plug falling out where it's extremely black, it's extremely steady and the motorcycle you're going to know yourself it just doesn't feel right it's not running right. And don't take for granted that it's always the plug or it's always the induction or the carburetor system. There might be an underlying issue like low voltage. back to the makeup of the plug. All spark plugs have a tip on the end where the spark plug wire engages. If it is a thread on style tip and I get questions all the time. "Bob, why did they still tread on, my spark plug boots, snaps onto it, why have that variable that can come loose?" Well, years back, these Sparks plug wire itself didn't have the boot and the fancy connector inside the clicked on you Just physically bolted that plug wire on with a knot to the thread and portion of the plug itself. So bear in mind, if you do have the removable ends the end of the spark plug wire goes to, make sure you put a little blue Loctite on it, tighten it up well, Am generally not afraid to grab it gently with a pair of pliers, not vice grips, but pliers and make sure it's tight before I put the plug wire on. Always make sure you use a little bit of anti-seize on the threads and torque to plug into the cylinder head correctly. Now I wanna jump back to us, older Shovelhead guys, most all of the Shovels because of the big Hemi, big, wide open, it was like a church, the inside of the soul in their head that big Hemi design. A lot of us guys, dual plug the heads. And what we did we ran two different plugs, two different lengths plugs. If you're ever in question, I don't care what model, what year, put one plug in. And this is only if you happen to be stranded on the side of the road in Tupelo, Mississippi, for example and one of your spark plugs the ceramic on the outside cracks in half or both plugs fall down so bad, you need to replace them but you're not sure you've got the right plug. Always remove both plugs, pull one plugin put the motorcycle in its highest gear with the back tire off the ground and gently I can't stress enough how gentle to roll it through, turn that tire in the normal direction of rotation as if it was driving the motorcycle down the road and make sure you don't feel any interference between the end of the plug which would be the ground electrode that you set the gap with. And the piston don't just put a set of unknown plugs in a bike, hit the start button, cause if they're wrong I guarantee you you're going to cause damage obviously to the spark plug, but you may cause irreparable damage to the top of the piston in itself. Give me one moment. I'm sorry. I am a little discombobulated tonight. I'm running late and I don't ever like to be late. I get a lot of question who makes Harley Davidson spark plugs. It is indeed Champion, but they are not a mass produced found on the shelf at your auto parts store Champion spark plug. Yes, you can use a Champion as a replacement but if you take the time like I have I'm the guy who spent over a thousand dollars at the biggie up North this year, just buying products to test just buying products I thought were of interest. And to tell you the truth, much like a eight or nine year old at Christmas half of the new toys that I bought fell to the wayside immediately, another 25 or 30% or so broke immediately. And there's just that small percentage that I'm still tinkering with that I liked the novel idea of. That being said even though Champion makes the plugs, they make them to Harley Davidson specs and there are differences. Minute differences. So please run the factory plug in any and all stock or stage one applications. Can't stress that enough. Don't over-complicate it, don't overthink it. Another question I get. Or another gin mill conversation I've come across is I love to run multi electrode plugs for the simple reason that once one burns out the other takes over. That's not true. Both those electrodes are, they encounter the same voltage, the same heat, which by the way, manufacturers recommend between 500 and 800 degrees Celsius for correct spark plug tip temperature. So you're talking about a quite hot area. So before you go jump into a hotter or colder plug make sure everything else is in order. That their are motorcycle runs correctly with the stock plug, not a different heat range. A lot of the plugs nowadays are billed as or promoted as horsepower increasing mile per gallon fuel mileage saving plugs. I can assure you after years of experience if the plug was indeed gonna give you more power or better fuel mileage, for the cost of the plug the manufacturer would have used it right out of the factory. So bear that in mind when you go to buy the doodad I'm going to leave it at doodad. I did cover the ion sensing ignitions which you need to be aware of because it's a great feature. That's able to sense high resistance. And so it's kind of, self-aware it retards the timing on its own up to four degrees in some cases and it'll eliminate pre ignition. I discussed the loose ends. The spark plug itself is just a delivery tool. It's nothing more than that. Please bear in mind it's just another item in line that delivers the spark the voltage load to the combustion mixture. All spark plugs need to be self-cleaning. That's why heat range is so important. You're on too cold, to plug a, how to plug, the bike's not going to run correctly. And what you're going to do is get excessive carbon buildup Great way to identify the motorcycles running condition other than riding it. And you know what? This is my same old girl she's running great today. Take a look at what's coming out the exhaust pipe. That is the end all mean all end result of the combustion process. If it's blown up black soot, chances are the plugs look very similar to what's at the end of the exhaust pipe. So addressing a lot of times, plugs do get worn out. Nowadays, the platinum style plugs. I'm not a big fan of, but they do exist. Run a good long time. Me 5,000 miles max, I'm putting new plugs in plugs are cheap. I want the hottest spark I can get and it's not cause I'm changing heat ranges. It's because I'm putting a brand new unit in to service. One big, big issue, I see all the time is there running the incorrect plug length? Now this is thread reach into the cylinder head. Big problem with the thread reach being too long. Obviously you can bang the piston right against the end of the plug, bend over the ground electrode possibly break off the porcelain or ceramic drops in to the cylinder besides the image to the piston. If you happen to get away with running a plug that's too long let's say there's only two or three threads extra hanging out into the cylinder head combustion chamber. Those strengths don't belong out in the open and what'll happen is they'll develop carbon buildup or they may even melt because of the high temperatures. Again, five to 800 degrees tip temperature on the spark plug. I'm sure the chamber hits better temperatures than that. It'll melt the threads. You go to pull the plug out to change it. And you pull the threads out of cylinder head. There is no repairing it. I'm going to tell you again, after years of experience if you pull the threads out of a cylinder head you need to replace the head. And yes, people will beg to differ but in order to repair that head it needs to be professionally done and it needs to be removed from the motorcycle. Never, ever try to repair a thread by running the plug in and out, or by trying to use a tap or a thread chaser. All you're doing is pushing debris into the cylinder. And again, any type of debris in the cylinder you might as well just stroke, dirt. It acts like an Emory against the cylinder rings and the cylinder wall. And it'll wear it excessively and quickly may run for a good long time but you're kicking half the life out of the engine. Nowadays, the Twin Cams the new Milwaukee 8, love that motor. And I'm an Evo boy. Believe me when I tell you I'm Evo try to intrude I love that Milwaukee 8. It doesn't sound. And again, I know I'm going to get bashed for this. Doesn't sound like the days of old, but then again my second favorite hobby hanging at the gin mill, you'll hear Knucklehead guys say the Pans don't sound right. Panhead guys say shovels don't sound right. Shovel guy say the Evo sound too tinny and aluminum and so on and so forth. Every generation has evolved to be a much stronger much better engine. And that's thanks to technology. We expect that you're certainly not gonna run a Knucklehead the way you run a new Milwaukee 8 engine. Back in the day, again, I hate that term. Just dates me. We had three digit Shovelhead motors which were nothing more than landmines between your legs. They wanted to come apart because they didn't wanna be that big cubic inch wise, stroking bore. When we started actually getting a good handle. And I say, we, I'm talking about Mark and myself or I when we started to get a good handle on three digit Evos we ourselves looked at it each other and we're so impressed. We had a hundred inch, whether it was a square motor, which was four inch by four inch bore and stroke or any of the other combinations that we put together. We were so impressed with ourselves that they were so powerful. Now you're Twin Cam folk and you're Milwaukee 8 folk just three digits is just the everyday norm. So please appreciate the technology appreciate the power and use the current components. And again, this whole rant and rave. This dissertation is about the spark plug. I can't stress enough. You as factory plugs, gap them correctly whether you use a wire style gauge or the old style style gauge, gap them correctly and enjoy the motorcycle for what it is. Don't overthink it. Don't make it over complicated. I think I covered as much of the spark plug mystery as I wanted to. And I wanna move on now, again this is supposed to be basically all the back to basics from there. I want to jump right into air cleaners. No, when it comes to air cleaners your motorcycle is mass produced with a paper style air cleaner. It's nothing more than a fine wire mesh. With a paper plated on it I don't for the most part run, nice type of filters. Long 10,000 miles is the extreme. And when I'm regularly maintaining and servicing them I always use compressed air and blow from the inside outward never blowing air cleaner from the outside inward. All you're going to do is embed the debris or the dirt into the element and push it into the center of the air cleaner. For the most part, what we're all familiar with now are the gauze style air filter, replacement air filters. All right, when I say gauze style we all know the brand name K & N much like bandaid instead of being at the of strips they're band-aids. Instead of being a high quality gauze filter, everyone says K & N I myself prefer K & N I've used them for years. They work great. I've never had a failure. There are a lot of gauze style knockoffs that are reasonably priced but you only get what you pay for, quick note. And you'll see on this tapered air filter I see a lot of these running out there, a lot of the new style, tube style air cleaners with the exposed triangular element, they look great. They do work very well. They're free flowing. For example, a stock element flows about 135 CFM. I've seen aftermarket elements out there that flow upwards of 350 CFM. When it comes to filtering the air that the motorcycle receives to the engine bigger is not always better. I mean, obviously the engine as an air pump in theory can only drawing so much but I'm not opposed to a bigger air filter element. As long as it doesn't interfere with your riding style irritate your right side knee, because you're banging into it or hinder the way you reached the rear brake on the motorcycle. To me, the bigger, the better. But bear in mind it leaves a lot more surface of the filter to keep clean. When it comes to oiling air filters they do need to be oiled. Oil is an integral part of catching and retaining the debris off the road. The debris just in the air whether it be pollen, dust, dirt, whatever it is. If you're running an engine, any engine without an air cleaner. And again, I'm guilty. I love my velocity stacks. I love a carburetor, a Mikuni carburetor, for example with a velocity stack. But all I'm really doing is allowing anything and everything other than the big bugs and the big rocks. Cause I run some silly little screen from entering my engine directly. And what this does is it wears all the rings in the cylinder wall prematurely. No you're doing, there's a price to be cool. There's a price for any action. There's an equal reaction. To look cool I'm willing to give up some mileage, maybe more than some depending on where I'm riding. Just to cool. Cause I don't want an air filter I want a velocity stuck When it comes to oiling the K & N style filter, never over oil. When I say over oil, it should never be blood red when you're ready to install it, it should be a light pink. And you'll know when it's time to clean it, service it, maintain it, recoil it. When it turns to, like a whitish or darkish gray color I have seen a multitude of motorcycles after the air cleaner has been serviced and re-installed follow plugs, too much oil. I seen a bunch of motorcycles not follow plugs but have a lack of power. Reason for that is that it's running extremely rich and restricted because there's too much oil in the gauze portion of the air filter element itself. Air filters are important. I do see them neglected because a lot of times if you're dealing with either the Ham Can like on a Sportster the oldest Shovelheads, the newer Twin Cams that design I consider a Ham Can style air cleaner cover or the Evos with the eight inch round. A lot of people have a tendency. Oh yeah, I maintain the air cleaner. I waxed the air cleaner cover or I cleaned the air cleaner cover. You need to remove the element. You need to service and maintain it properly. That's a big part of maintenance not just keeping things clean and shiny but keeping the component that lies beneath the shiny good and clean and serviced correctly. I want to take a quick look at the back of the evolution I have up in the air. And I wanna talk to you about another basic maintenance. Now this is more preventive maintenance than it is a replaceable maintenance item for most, please don't be insulted. But when it comes to changing a rear drive belt there's a lot involved. Unless it's something you or your friends or someone that may be helping you replace it it's a big project. But when it comes to regular maintenance, it's nothing that any, or all of us can do on either a daily basis. If you ride every day or a weekly basis if you're a weekend warrior let's take a look at the back of the Evo. The first thing I always liked to do and you don't necessarily have to have the motorcycle tire off the ground. You can roll it forward and get a look at it. First thing I like to do is just roll the tire in it's normal direction of rotation and watch and make sure that belt winds up perfectly centered in the sprocket. That's telling me just looking at it, that it's running through to the rear sprocket. Now a lot of the newer bikes they are self-adjusting, which is what I mean, they're self-aligning. What that means is the axle itself has two plates on it. So as you turn the axle it adjusts the tire and belt tension evenly. The older bikes, you had two separate belts, which adjusted it in small increments or incrementally depending on how you turned left or right on those belts. All right, when it comes to belt inspection, never ever use any type of solvents, de greasers. I'm gonna throw out another recognized name brands and that's going to be GUNK. Never used it degrees for like GUNK on your belt. All right, it's a solvent-based cleaner that will soften the rubber of the belt. If you feel the need to wash your belt, wash it with a mild soap, water, not extremely hot just mild warm water and use the toothbrush. Get between every cog. When it comes to inspecting the belt, you need to inspect not only belt tension, but you need to inspect each and every cog. Make sure none of those engaging cogs, that bite on the pulley, front or rear, are becoming shredded, wearing on evenly or wearing incorrectly. It's really up to you when it comes to basic maintenance, whether you do the hardcore mechanical end, whether you don't change your own oil, I bring my bike to the dealer. That's perfectly fine, but it's still up to you, you're the one who's gonna be riding the bike, to make sure that everything on that motorcycle is operating properly. That's what's known as the pre-ride inspection. That not only includes checking your oil level your belt tension, your tire pressures, which should always be run to manufacturer spec, don't redesign the wheel. I can assure you if you overinflate or under inflate a tire, there will be repercussions you'll feel. And whether you feel it through the road or you suffer on fuel mileage or actual tread wear, it's up to you to maintain tire pressure. The mechanic you paid to change your oil, may or may not be there, every time you go off for a ride, to check your tire pressures, it's up to you. You wanna make sure all your lighting features are working. All the functions, tail light, brake light, signals, high, low beam horn. This takes a few minutes and you know what? I typically spend seven to 10 minutes prior to that any ride, just to look around. I check my belt, I feel flat washers, I feel lock washers, I feel anything that may or may not want to give me grief I'm riding. Big issue with neglected belts. And yes they do make a belt repair kit, it's a temporary fix, but it can get you from point A to point B in a pinch. But the big issue with belt drive bikes, if you run that motorcycle too hard, too long, too neglected, too one maintained and that belt breaks, you're basically looking at being stranded on the side of the road with a 600 pound refrigerator. You're not gonna push it far, unless obviously it's all downhill and you're lucky to the dealer, I myself, I'm not that lucky, but you're going to be stranded. So please use common sense, keep basic maintenance, which is what the whole Fix My Hog, the inception in 2004 or Fix My Hog was all about. Not so much that you can do it, but that you know how it's done. And yet you do the preventative things you can do, which includes the pre-ride inspection on your own. Don't depend on anyone. No one's riding your bike, unless of course you're extremely rich and you're chauffeured around, you're riding it, you're driving it, your life depends on it. Make sure you maintain it correctly. And that includes throttle cables, clutch cable, brake fluid. I can't tell you how many times I have opened the front master cylinder or rear master cylinder. And I myself prefer Spectral brake fluid, it's purple. I can't tell you how many of the bikes I've serviced that became neglected over the years and that purple fluid looks like cooking oil. There's a sight glass on the top of the master cylinder. How can you not see it that fluid destroying itself? Get it properly replaced, properly serviced, it's up to you, it's your bike. One last thing before I close on this is the motorcycle battery. Again, it's like the air filter element it's under the seat or it's behind the cover. It'll be fine. Make sure to seat's clean, make sure to seat's comfortable, make sure that your cleaner covers clean. But the battery you need to remove the seat. You may need to make sure it's kept clean, you need to make sure the cables are tight, you need to make sure there's not sulfation, which is that nasty white powder, that'll develop from sitting too long or the cable being loose and archy. A quick note, a lot of, the newer sports stars, they're a real bear to remove the battery. And the best way I found to address that is to leave the negative cable hooked up to the battery, disconnect it from the frame, down low and then unhook the positive, slide the battery out. I know as always, if you are a fix my hand. If you are a Fixed My Hog fan or a Fix My Hog folk, you're probably used to my rambling and ranting by now. If you just happened to ride by and catch this tonight, I hope you found it informative. I hope you don't take Bob LaRosa Fixed My Hog as being the end all mean all, what I say is cast in stone. All I really wanna do is keep you, the rider, the passionate motorcyclist, safe and sound on a well-maintained motorcycle. That was the root cause of Fixed My Hog, right from its inception. And again, please sign up for the free newsletter, it's updated weekly. We are social Facebook, Instagram. I certainly welcome any and all, new Fix My Hog members. It's a great website. It's a great source of information, even if you don't do your own work. But again this whole episode or this whole rant was back to basics. So I wanna just take a moment. I hope I covered enough ground and I do apologize for being late tonight. I can't control 84 traffic here in, let's call it New England. 84 is a nightmare. I wanna just take a moment and then I'm going to, even if I run long, answer a handful of questions that Tona will read to me, and I'm gonna do my best to give you an honest, unbiased answer. And even if it's not the answer you wanna hear, I hope it incites the riot or it lights the fire and causes you to do a little research and find your truthful answer. Even if you don't consider mine the truth, I want you to draw your own line in the sand and either prove me wrong or educate yourself more on the subject. All right questions. Okay, so this guy says, "I've been doing all my basic maintenance." So he has a 2008 Electra Glide classic. He said that he noticed today, that he has some oil dripping from his Harley air cleaner or housing onto the right side of the motor. It's not much, but should he be concerned? All right. Again, I'm gonna try not to hop off the first exit ramp on this topic. The Harley Davidson engine, whether it's Shovel, Evo, Twin Cam, have a tendency, to what they call sump. And this may or may not be the case, but when you've got an oil tank above the oil pump, just the pressure from sitting will sometimes cause the oil to go into the crankcase. I realize you've been changing your oil for quite some time. I wanna make sure, I really didn't get a lot of information as far as overall mileage, you know, what type of oil you're using, where you're filling the oil tank. Yeah absolutely positively, when it comes to a softail style oil tank leave yourself a good air gap from the bottom of the filler neck to the top of the oil. Oil expands oil, aerates as it runs through the oil system, of the engine and gets returned back to the tank. If you're experiencing minor oil seepage or weeping out of the top breathing system, I myself generally wouldn't be too concerned. It might been an overfill situation. Might've been an extremely hot ride. I do see a lot of them, give a little extra mist of oil when you're caught in traffic in excessive heat, reason for that the oil gets hot, it expands, it gets very frothy aerated, because it's getting splashed and sloshed around in the engine. For the most part, unless that engine is clearly pumping oil, blatantly pumping oil out of the top breathers on the heads, I wouldn't be too concerned. I'd remove a little bit of it when it's cold and see how it acts. Make sure all the passages where the banjo bolt exit the cylinder heads are good and clean. Keep them as clean as you do your air filter element. Thanks. Thanks a lot, somebody else says, After installing an open performance air cleaner, filter, how often should you change the filter since it's open to the elements? All right. You can't objectively say, an air filter needs to replaced, in such and such a time or such and such a mileage. It's really dictated by riding style, by riding conditions, by the environment. And when I say environment, I have people who ride in dirt parking lots, or they work in the construction industry, the motorcycle sits in a dusty environment. You really need to use common sense, for the most part if you're using a gauze style or Canon style filter and that filter turns from the light pink well-oiled color to a gray, light gray, dark gray color it's time to be serviced. And when I do service air filters, I have two for each of our motorcycles. And what I do I take the dirty or used element out, I wash it correctly, per the manufacturer's recommendations and I let it air dry before I oil it. The reason I have two is I don't have to wait. I'll wash that element, hanging up, let it air dry, put the one that's ready to go in the bike and go ride. When that element is due to be replaced, then I'll lightly oil the second or the replacement element and install it in the bike. And the process goes over and over. Never do I run an air filter unserviced for more than 5,000 miles. But again, I know people, air filters properly maintained, properly cleaned don't last much more than 1500 or 2000 miles, because of the conditions that they're used in. Thanks a lot, so this is actually a belt question. I have a 2001 FLH and I'm having a problem with the Harley drive belt squealing on the rear pulley. Belt, it's in good condition and the alignment seems good as well. It mainly squeals during acceleration and decelerate. All right, back to belts. Years ago when we all had chain drive motorcycles, you could pretty much spot who was riding a motorcycle because they had three, four extra links and a couple extra master links on their key chain. Those were the days when they were noisy, they needed constant adjustment and you had to keep them lubricated. The benefits of the belt are they're quiet, they need less, less, much less maintenance and even less adjustment. Once a belt is seasoned in or worn in, you really don't have to adjust it that often, you have to adjust it when it falls out of spec, obviously. But to answer your question, if you're getting a noise, I hear all kinds of noise is chirping, whining, humming buzzing out of a belt drive. Chances are the belt itself has developed a hard spot, whether it was allowed to sit in one position too long and too long can be taken out of context. I'm not talking 30 years, but in incorrect environment, six months can create what I call a hard spot or a soft spot, depend on how you wanna look at it, in the drive belt. And what you need to bear in mind, there's eight defined areas where a belt can cause a squeak regardless of outside interference, if it's hitting the belt guard, or hitting the swing arm or hitting an aftermarket inner splash shield, on the Softails, I've seen that multitude times. Be careful, make sure your belt's got a clean path to travel. But there's eight distinct areas. It would be inside of the front dry Sprocket, upper and lower, inside of the rear drive Sprocket upper and lower and outside front and rear, upper and lower, of the sprockets. Where the belt enters and exits both Sprockets. That's where that hard spot has a tendency to bite the Sprocket and cause a chirp or a chip. Never use any product, and this is gonna send me right off, right off the exit ramp. I got a buddy who's tried into, I don't do any maintenance, I don't need any tools, all I depend on is WD-40 and duct tape. And I say, "Really he's absolutely." If it's too tight to move WD-40 will loosen it up, if it's moving, the duct tape will hold it still. That's the type of maintenance mentality, the type of rationale that I'll leave you stranded on the side of the road with your 600 pound refrigerator, on a beautiful afternoon you're supposed to be riding. But back to the question, the belts chirping, in all honesty after what I've seen in the past, you can try a little automotive style belt dressing but don't be surprised if it's a temporary fix, the only real way to solve the problem, especially in an old one, that's what a 16, 17 year old belt and sprockets, regardless of mileage, it's a rubber component, 17 years old, the only way to really put that issue to rest, new belt both new Sprockets. Don't ever put a new belt to worn Sprockets. You've got another question Tona? Thanks a lot, somebody say they purchased their 2012 Ultra Classic. It just got delivered to him and he was cleaning it up, took the driver's side bag off to clean and lo and behold he looked at and there was a rock in the bill. All right, I do see that often. I see it more often than not on people who have, what we call a New England process stone driveways, where it's not really a round style stone, but it's a sharp shard. And they do penetrate the belt. If you just purchased the motorcycle obviously it's a used motorcycle, if you just purchased it. If there's a warranty on it any type of warranty, I would highly recommend bringing it back to the point of purchase. That's again, only if you trust the point of purchase. I do know people and again I know a lot of folk, a lot of them would just die to prove me wrong or prove them wrong. I know people have run 40, 50,000 miles with a rock embedded in the center of the belt. They popped the rock out, says, "I don't worry about it." Me, myself, you need to replace the belt. Whether you have the point of purchase replace it or you have a reputable professional mechanic replace it, or if you're mechanically inclined, you have the mechanical aptitude to do it yourself. I can assure you when you're done doing it correctly, there's nothing more rewarding, more fulfilling, than doing a big job, like replacing the rear drive belt, on your own and enjoying the fruits of your labor, when the job is done correctly. You have another question there Tona? All right so, now we're down to one more. Okay On drive belt and then we're gonna go to a tire pressure. Will the drive belt on a 2001 Dyna being too tight, blow the transmission too. All right. I don't care if it's a 91 Softail dresser Dyna or it's a 2013 Dyna Softail dresser, over tightening the rear drive belt, especially if you carry a passenger or luggage will certainly, almost certainly, cause a transmission leak, reason is you're pulling unnecessary force on the main shaft and the main shaft itself, being that the Harley Davidson transmission is a power in and power out on the same axis design. It carries a lot of load, the clutch basket, the rear drive Sprocket up front and the whole weight of throttle when it's applied. So if you over tighten it and you start off with that main shaft preloaded, don't be surprised if you do cause a transmission fluid leak. But I also want you to know that there's a number of components that keep that transmission fluid sealed into the transmission behind that front drive Sprocket, there's quad seals, there's spacers, there's big transmission case seals, there's proper torque spec and the sprocket. Make sure all of that is correct. And obviously to check the torque spec, on a foot dry Sprocket, you gotta take a lot of the bike apart inner and outer primary, the whole drive system. If I'm taking something apart that far, I'm replacing every seal, every gasket, every fluid on my way back together. I don't like to do things twice. Tona. All right, so now tire pressure. 2001, oh I'm sorry 2011 Fat Boy stock tires, recommending running 40 PSI in the front to lightened steering wheel and ease low speeding maneuvering. Manual calls for 36. Will going 40 cause any problems with the front end? Excessive wear, wobble. Thank you Tom. When it comes, Tom thank you for the question. When it comes to tire pressures, again the tire pressure that's molded into the sidewall of the tire is maximum cold pressure. Always, either refer to a label on the motorcycle frame, or one of the covers on the motorcycle, if it's applicable or your factory owner's manual or the manufacturer's website to see what recommended tire pressure is. Yes, if you run 40 pounds instead of 36, which Harley Davidson recommends in a front tire, for your particular application you will decrease the steering load, I guess, due to the fact that you overinflate the tire and you're running on less of a contact patch. I don't know, depending on the handlebar configuration, if it's stock or you have a replacement set of bars, if you're really gonna feel a difference in how it sticks to the road. But I myself know inflated tires have a tendency to feed back from the pavement to the handlebars much more than a tire that's correctly inflated to manufacturer's recommendation. Again it's one of those rider preferences. I certainly wouldn't recommend putting any more than 40, but if you'd like to try it at 40 and it's recommended at 36, that's fine. But if you're uncomfortable with it, please always run the factory recommended spec for the tire, don't go off the sidewall, that's maximum cold pressure. We have another question? All right, so now we're going onto oil. I've done many oil changes on my FXRs, done it for 25 years. The surface mill doesn't call for filling a Harley oil filter with oil on these models when doing well changes. So I put new filters on without filling with oil. Should I be putting oil in the filters before installing them? I'm really gonna climb out on a limb here. I don't care if it's a 12 cylinder Cummins diesel, if it's a two cylinder Shovelhead, if it's a brand new Milwaukee 8 always, always fill your oil filter prior to installing it. Reason for that, and I don't care if that filter mounts upside down when you put it in place, fill the filter, wait a while, let the filter absorb the oil and then be quick at it and install it. A lot of us don't like the mess because our filters are horizontal. You've gotta be creative. You've gotta use a piece of tinfoil, a good absorbent towel, paper towel, microfiber put it onto the filter thread it on, make sure you don't capture whatever your absorbent material is between the seal and the filter mount. But you need to pre-saturate pre-fill any oil filter. Reason being, I don't want that big air gap as the oil pump and the oil system starts to fill the filter, I don't want that big bubble of air pushed out into my oil lines or pushed back into the engine, depending on how your filter is configured and creating what's known as cavitation or aeration in the oil. It's a brand new oil change, take a moment, fill the filter, put it on, call it a day. Even though the service manual doesn't recommend it, I highly do. Another question. Oh yeah, one more. I'd be happy, I'd be happy to answer another one. It is from me. There's always the monkey in the ranch. Come on, come on Fork fluid. Okay. I have two hydraulic bike with front end filled spirit How often should those fluids be changed? Fork Fluids are definitely one of the, absolutely most neglected fluids on the bike. For the simple reason you don't see it, it's not like you can look through the sight glass and the master and see the condition of the fluid. For the most part, all the hydraulic owners just take for granted, hey it has oil in it, the oil is good. You always have to follow your regularly scheduled maintenance, found in your service manual, found online, for the particular manufacturer for the particular fork. I myself do my fork oil seasonally. Both of us ride, I ride a Springer some of the time, so it's kind of out of the loop. But both of us ride hydraulic front end bikes both of us ride on fairly rough roads, we all know New England roads, especially come spring, can just be peppered with potholes. You torture the fluid. We do ride quite a few miles a year, so I don't think it's a waste of time or money, whether you do it yourself or you pay someone to do it. It's not really that expensive of a process regardless of the model to have the fork fluid done. I don't think it's a waste of time or money to do it seasonally, once a year. And speaking to seasonally, once again, Bob LaRosa jumping off the exit ramp, this is the time of year in New England when, and this week in particular, we're in the nineties, it's Indian summer. We're all out riding, all hours of the day and night, foggy in the morning, real dark real quick cause we're losing daylight. Do not let maintenance go, just because it's the end of your riding season. And I don't care if you're in Seattle or you're in Boston, don't let worn tires get the better you because you knew you should have replaced them a month ago and yet you said," I'm not putting new tires on the bike, cause I'm gonna be putting it away in a few weeks." Here comes Indian summer, here comes a worn all tire and here comes a big issue that you didn't have to address. And I don't care if it's a flat, or God forbid, it's some type of altercation on the road. Don't allow maintenance to lack. Don't become lackadaisical when it comes to maintenance, stay on top of it. If the bike needs a tire in September and you know it and you're riding it in October, it's your own fault if you got a problem with it. Put a tire on, it's not gonna sit for three years, it's gonna sit for a couple months. Most of us, myself included, I try and ride straight through the winter. If it's not snowing heavy or the roads are unplowed, I'm not afraid of the cold and I ride. I need good tires, I need a good clean air filter, I need good fresh oil, it's all basic maintenance, it's preventative maintenance. And it's up to you as the owner, as the rider to take care of these. I'm Bob LaRosa for Fix My Hog. I wanna thank all of you for watching tonight. I wanna welcome any and all new members. I wanna give a big thank you, big shout out to all my existing men members on fixmyhog.com. Please make sure you bookmark it. We are social Facebook, Instagram, weekly newsletter, update it weekly it's free, join, watch. We've been doing this since 04, that is Mark, myself. The reason for that is we love the hobby, we have a passion for maintenance, we want you, to not only develop the passion we have, but also.