When taking off the cam cover it seems to me that there will be a fair amount of oil that will come out, and my thought is that it would be best to drain the oil tank before removing the cam cover so that all of the oil in the tank won't drain out here too, but the service manual makes no mention of this. Does the system not work this way or is it just not a big issue?

 

Put the bike on the side stand and have a few rags handy. Not to much oil will drain, just a few drops. make sure you are on the sidestand.

Drew

 

Do not remove any drain looking bolts in the TC block. They are sealed pretty good and are only intended to be removed if a problem comes up like to check a return problem with Harley 2 stage oil pump. I stuff newspapers up under frame rail with a rag under it and some extra on the floor. When you pop the cover it will drop some that's for sure. Last time I did it after startup my level was lower by over a 1/4" on the stick. Think thats about 8 oz. which look like a lot on paper.

 

That's great info, guys. Im lookin at changin up the cam cover to that bitchin clarity line and I too was a little inquisitive about "breaking that dam."

 

Same reason I was asking. Wanted to know how messy it was before I decided if I want to do it. Sounds easy enough though. Now it's just a matter of finding the coin for it.

 

Hahaha!!! I kinda figured. I followed you on the other thread. And about the coin, seriously, I know!!!! .... But as Story says, " the price of Kewl ain't cheap."

 

One thought on it if you have not done it before. When you take the bolts out for the first time do not be surprised how tight it's stuck on. I kept tapping on it with a soft hammer and it would not budge. Finally popped it off with a sliding hammer. See my albums for detail. Sure if I just smacked it harder it would have come off but I hate breaking parts and marring finishes.

 

I guess it depends on why you're pulling the cam cover. If I was changing my cams and had it to to do again, I would drain the oil first because you need to have your bike on a jack in order to turn the rear wheel and rotate the motor at certain intervals. I didn't drain my oil before my cam swap and probably about 3/4 of the oil dumped out of the cam chest in the process...
If you're just swapping out the cam cover and have your bike on the side stand, you probably don't need to drain the oil.

 

Good point, what you are saying is by the necessity of turning the engine to check timing marks the oil pump pulled more oil out of the oil tank and that runs thru engine passageways and out thru bearings and down into sump which drains to cam chest and out on the floor.
Do you do anything special after installation before start up. The last time I worked on my primary, knowing the PM was due I drained the engine oil while waiting on parts. Did a lot of turning indicating run out. Put it back together and put the oil in. The lifters had collapsed and when I started it it took a good 20-30 seconds for them to pump up. Thought I had done something wrong for a few. They can sure make some racket with the lifters down.

 

I am attempting to remove cam cover on 98 fatboy. I have all bolts removed and cover starts to come off but torque to the right and seems to be jammed on. Does the push rods need to be out of compression stroke to remove? What am I doing wrong?