This has probably been covered before but here goes, me and my co-worker have softails (mine 08 RockerC his 07 Heritage) and we are both getting close to the 5000 mile service. I plan on doing mine myself, and asked him if he also was and he said he was taking his to indy dealer because if done yourself it would void the warranty. I thought as long as you documented all of the service details such as reciepts and actual pics of the speedo milage and work done that your warranty will remain intact. Who is correct, please chime in.

 

You have it correct. As long as you document the work with receipts the Magnusson-Moss Act says the warranty is valid no matter who does the service. Dealers will lie until you mention Magnusson-Moss, then they will cave in. Don't let them BS you.

Then take the money you save and buy more "safety chrome" (that one didn't work with my wife).

 

I wrench at a dealership. You can do your own work and be covered under warranty. Keep all your receipts and pick up a marble notebook. Jot down your mileage and the date and all service you performed. Just keep in mind if you break something, it is on you.

 

In your owners manual in the scheduled maintanance see note #1. You need the tools , manual and know how. Keep records and receipts and you should be good to go.
Ron

 

As long as you document AND you can show a reasonable mechanical aptitude to DIY when an issue comes up. If you say things like "I took pictures of my speedo", I doubt this will happen.

 

Huh... thats what I find lacking at most stealerships...

Yeah... you can do the work yourself and not void the warranty...

But then again its been my experience that the warranty aint all that great in the first place...

So what are you really loosing anyway...

Charlie D.

 

When I was refering to taking pics of the speedo I was talking about taking pics of the milage when I perform the maintance. On the last bike I had, I had a seperate folder with all receipts,dates,work performed and actuall pics showing and documenting the maintance that was done. Fortunatly on my last bike I only had one warranty problem and it was a rocker cover gasget that was leaking oil and the dealer never questioned who did the maint. work. Thanks for all the responses, now if I could only get someone to walk me thru this pic posting (im a very competent wrench but when it comes to computers thats another story)I would post some of my Red Rocker, thanks agian guys.

 

I duplicated the check-off chart in an excel spread sheet. I put a place for mileage and a note section for self installs. Check them off then print it out, and put it in a binder.

Freaked out the service manager. He didn't give me any crap at all.

 

This is the only way to do it. I use Excel spreadsheets for everything. Have a documented spreadsheet for every part I installed on both of my bikes, P/N's, cost and date installed. Always keep the receipts too. Not much to argue with showing this kind of documentation and you always know every little detail when it comes time to look something up....It's all about good data... Know one can argue with the facts ;-)

 

Its like we always said at work, "IN GOD WE TRUST" everyone else, keep records, keep records, keep records.