Good story, and have seen the same here as well.
But just look at all the money he saved, by doing it himself, twice!?!
Scott

 

Scott & Kirby (and anyone else!),

Following your advice I'm trying to remove my oil pump for inspection and for access to the steel feed lines to the filter mount for cleaning, but I don't see a way to remove the two fasteners in the picture below.

The screw that holds the oil pump cover manifold is blocked by the frame, and acces the the compression nuts on the oil lines seems impossible for the same reasons.

Do I need to pull the engine to remove this pump, or do you have some guru tips that'll let me get this off without yanking the motor?

My bike is a 98 Wide Glide



Chuck

EDIT: I'd also like to clean the pan and wonder if this can be accomplished on the bike.

 

Kirby and Scott, your help through this repair was invaluable: thanks.

I'm glad to report I have no tappet noise at all, in spite of having lived with noise that a local tuner said was "acceptable," which turned out to be caused by unkowingly running with a bad lifter for at least 15K miles until the second lifter failed.

I had a helluva time getting oil pressure in the motor because I didn't properly prime the pump. Finally got a clear funnel and connected it with a tube to the oil input nipple on the outside of the pump, pulled the plugs, spun the motor and primed it like that for 15 or 20 seconds. Worked like a charm.