First thing I have to say is this would have been a lot easier with a lift. I couldn't get my oil pan under the bike so I ended up using a milk container and crumpled it a bit to catch the oil.

When I took the derby cover off there was no gasket on it. Does this make sense to anyone? Do they not have gaskets? Even my dad was asking me where it was at. The spring came loose and fell down, then I tried to place it somewhere it didn't belong and ended up dropping it in the case. Good thing I checked the Clymer's manual.

Finally I went to do spark plugs, easy enough right? Well before I went to the store to get my new plugs I pulled the old ones. I bought a set a few weeks ago but it turns out I read the compatible chart wrong and had to buy new ones because these are too big.

So I get he autolite ones, grease them up with dielectric, and put a bit of anti-seize on the threads. Go to screw them in, seems like the thread end of them is a bit wide, they go in at first but then stop almost immediately. So I get my trusty spark plug socket, only to find out they're too long as well. Sigh, so I put the old ones back in, they didn't look that bad anyway...

I also had to get a different oil wrench but autozone had me covered on that one. The one i got was like the socket style was very nice compared to an adjustable one.

So finally I went out for a five minute ride to make sure all was well on the bike it seems okay

 

I hope you don't do bike maintenence for a living!

 

Sure don't but I figure me doing it was better then spending 250+ at the dealer.

 

First of all, if you are going do to the work on your bike, you will eventually need a motorcycle lift, or jack. However, don't try to change the oil with your bike on a jack. Trust me....that is a bad mistake. OIL EVERYWHERE. haha

I found a small plastic container at some big box store that would slide under the bike, then dumped that oil into my oil drain pan. I also noticed last week, that HD has come out with a low profile oil pan just because of this problem

The spark plugs are made by Champion. I can't remember the plug number, but if you take the original plug and try to match it with a Champion plug, you will find the right plug. It's one of the most common plugs that Champion makes.

Don't feel bad, we all have to go through this learning curve.

 

Champion RA8HC is equivalent to the Harley-Davidson 6R12 plugs. It's the stock configuration.

 

Thanks I appreciate it. The guy at autozone even matched these plugs to a 6r12 plug. That's what I don't understand about it. I figured they'd definitely fit. Oh well, not that big of a deal the plugs still looked good anyway.

 

so, just curious, what about the gasket on the derby cover?

 

That's the thing, there's supposed to be one right? There just wasn't one on my bike, at all. I took the derby cover off and no gasket. Now I had this bike service and the dealership twice before, two different ones (1,000 miles & 5,000 miles). So I've at least been riding without a gasket on there since last service 3500 miles or so? Never noticed a leak though.

 

I remember reading on another forum post that there is no gasket on the stock derby cover but if you use one with a design (like the HD Dark Custom Logo Collection Derby Cover) then there needs to be one or vis versa, I cannot remember now which way it is.

 

I just put both my tires on 4+2 wood boards also the kick stand my oil pan fits under great plenty of room to train the oil +1 champion plugs ive used them on my 99 king for years no problems nothing wrong with saving a buck and doing your own service.