I'm doing my first transmission fluid change tomorrow. I read in one post to put loctite on the drain bolt, is this commonly done? I can see why, given that part of my docking hardware for my windshield vibrated loose and fell off, but I don't have any experience with loctite and don't want to end up stripping the bolt trying to get it back off.

Also, bike is approaching 10,000 miles. Do I need to remove the clutch inspection cover and replace the rubber seal in there? Do I need to remove the clutch inspection cover at all?

I did take the time to search this issue, but I'm relatively new to HDForums as well, sorry if this is redundant

 

Do not use loctite on the drain plug..Replace the o ring and do not over tighten.The o ring on the clutch cover does not need to be replaced.just be careful not to strip the torx bolts that hold the cover on,in fact it would be a good time to change them out to allen heads if you do not want any trouble down the road..Good Luck and buy a service manual..

 

Thanks for the help Captain Itch. I picked up a service manual too.

 

what the good captain said, I also put teflon pipe putty just a little in the threads on the drain plug, and anti-sieze on the derby bolts they tend to rust which causes them to be a beatch to get off

 

I'd suggest you only use "blue" medium strength loctite on bolts you do not routinely remove but want to be able to remove. The "red" permanent loctite can make bolts impossible to remove without heat. I replaced my derby cover torx bolts with the chrome ones sold by HD and they seem to be a bit less likely to strip than the stock bolts. Stock derby cover bolts seem to be a very soft metal and be sure you are using the right torx bit as most HD derby covers are T27 not the more common T25 found in many torx sets.

 

I think the word is spreading about using the pipe paste joint compound as antivibe on threads. I've been using it on my Shovel for years. The RK I bought in Oct. had pipe dope on the lifter cover bolts which made them hard to remove. Other bolts had the paste on them too.

 

An easy job but be careful tightening the drain plug. A torque wrench is a good investment.