I was wandering around the local Northern Tools store (sort of like a slightly upscale version of Harbor Freight) a while back, and came across this thing:
Ever since Schex posted his diagram of the vacuum oil extractor he built, I've been thinking about making one. The Topsider is normally about $50, but someone had returned it so I got it as an "open box" for $25. Figured why not?
Finally got around to trying it out last night. I've got a few hundred miles on the ElectraGlide rebuild at this point, so changing out the oil seemed like a good idea.
The Topsider really works. They say they want the oil "warm, not hot", whatever that means. So after I got home from work, I waited a couple of hours. Probably should have gotten to it sooner to have thinner, warmer oil, but it still sucked it right out. Started with 40 pulls on the pump, and gave it about 30 more along the way. It took about 10 minutes to empty the tank. Pumping up the vacuum is pretty much effortless.
Mostly I got this to use on the bobber, since I don't have any way of getting the oil out other than from the top.
I can see the benefit to using that on a pre '93 ElectraGlide, because of the side tank. On my 93, I make more mess removing the oil filter, than removing the drain plug from the bottom oil pan.