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@panz4ever Thanks for posting this thread. Been following closely as I thought about taking another run at the seller on that local ’95 Road King we talked about a few months ago. I haven’t decided if I should take this thread as a wonderful inspiration, or a terrible warning!
@panz4ever Thanks for posting this thread. Been following closely as I thought about taking another run at the seller on that local 95 Road King we talked about a few months ago. I havent decided if I should take this thread as a wonderful inspiration, or a terrible warning!
Anyway, great info, and kudos to the community.
Think that the RK is in much much better overall condition than the 96 FLHT.
Question for you. This bike originally came out of North Carolina. There is a NC vehicle inspection tag dated from 05/94. Are vehicle inspections required everyyear? I have no vehicle hisyory on the bike. The second owner only had for about a year and put 1300 miles on the bike. Trying to get an assessment re: how long the bike may have sat around before being sold to the second owner. Bike did not get a lot of love from the original owner.
So I came out to the bike late afternoon and saw this...
There is no oil in the transmission since I just replaced the oil pan gasket and have not added any fluid.
When I first put the bike on my lift I noticed a large accumulation of oil behind the inner primary and some resting on the sprocket. My inital thought was that the seal on the back of the inner primary was leaking.
And when I puuled the inner primary you can see a large amount of crud on the back.
Then I got to thinking that maybe the casue is a mainnshaft oil seal problem. Looking at the manual there are two seals, a mainshat oil seal and a quad seal.
Anyone's asesement that it is mainshaft seal problem rather than the seal on the back of the inner primary?
Can you get to those seals by pulling the sprocket and bearing inner race. Can one/both be replaced with the tranny assembled or does it mean taking the box apart to replace them. (means buying a tool to pull the mainshaft inner bearing race)
I just do not want to get it all back together, get on down the road, only to find the *** end all covered in oil...again.
Last edited by panz4ever; Mar 29, 2022 at 12:49 AM.
I always find these posts when I am about to leave for work...sorry if I am brief but yes, time to give it all the "once over", and it looks like your leaking from the 5th gear main shaft seal, but the problem is, the leaking can be from any one of 5 different seals, or more than one, so...
Your at a point where the "might as wells" make sense. It's mostly all apart so you should take advantage of that and replace all seals in there. Quad seal and spacer, spacer seal (the big one), and 5th gear main shaft seal (wedding band seal). In addition, I would seriously consider a new inner primary bearing, IPB seal, and race. New pulley nut. New shift shaft seal. Use OEM parts....your going to need some specialty tools, (an investment) but worth the expense and you can save some coin if you shop around on the tools. (race puller, deep 1-7/8 pulley nut socket). Some will also purchase a specialty seal installer but not totally needed.
Inspect parts to see if you have the upgraded pulley and spacer or the older style pulley and spacer. If old style, consider changing to newer style. Added expense will be a new front pulley.
Others will chime in with more details. Not a bad project but a little spooky if never done before, but still do-able if you take your time, read up on the project and ask questions. Gotta head to work.
Last edited by Yankee Dog; Mar 29, 2022 at 04:42 AM.
YD has you covered.. Do them all at this point.. post up a pic on the ipb sleeve on the input shaft.. I wouldn't think at your mileage it would necessitate replacement....
Think that the RK is in much much better overall condition than the 96 FLHT.
Question for you. This bike originally came out of North Carolina. There is a NC vehicle inspection tag dated from 05/94. Are vehicle inspections required everyyear? I have no vehicle hisyory on the bike. The second owner only had for about a year and put 1300 miles on the bike. Trying to get an assessment re: how long the bike may have sat around before being sold to the second owner. Bike did not get a lot of love from the original owner.
Panz, Annual inspection stickers were required on motor vehicles in NC between 1966 and 2008. Afterwards, annual inspections were (and are) still required prior to renewing vehicle registrations every year. It all became computerized in ’08 so a vehicle owner couldn’t renew the vehicle registration without having successfully completed a state inspection within 90 days prior, but inspection stickers were no longer used.
Now, let me post this here before I get to the TL/DR part of my reply. If it were my bike, I would run the VIN and get a CarFax report for forty bucks. They are often woefully deficient, BUT if nothing else, you should see some annual NC inspection and registration renewal history on the bike that you wouldn't see otherwise.
I should mention that I was off bikes from ’89-’20 so I can’t even recall if bikes were required to display the sticker in that time frame, but I know annual inspections were still required. Maybe someone else in NC can remember @skootchnc@Rob Harper@Cosmic Razorback
Here’s something I don’t get. It doesn’t make sense if your bike is a ’96, why it would, or could have a ’94 inspection sticker. Maybe a late '95 sticker if it was bought right when they came out in fall, but a 94?... or I haven’t had enough coffee.
If there was a plate on your bike when you bought it here is how you might tell. See the sticker in the top right of this plate? It indicates the vehicle registration has not been renewed since ’06. The sticker on the top left indicates May (fifth month)
Agree with the previous 2 posts - replace everything while in there. But I most always replace the pulley spacer and inner bearing race just for insurance of a good seal surface. The 1-7/8 deep socket, bought as the special tool, has a pilot that threads onto the input shaft and makes the pulley nut much easier to deal with. If you change the trans input shaft seal (wedding band) you'll need the special driver for that. Getting them out takes a bit of imagination, but not too difficult usually. Other than a torque wrench that does LH torque, that's about it for special tools.
-------------------------------------------------------
Difficult to say abut the inspection sticker. NC stopped issuing physical stickers in the early 2000's (06 or 07 ?) but cannot recall exactly when. So it's possible it's been tagged and ridden since the last sticker date, but no way to know.
*didn't see post #96 before I posted. Good info in it.
If I remember correctly, way back in the day, the inspection sticker had to be affixed to a permanent part of the motorcycle. Usually they were on the left fork. I had a Sportster back in the 90's and I didn't want to do that, so I made a plate and bolted it to a hole that was lower left on the frame. It was about 3" x 3" plate and the annual sticker went on there. I knew the person that did inspection, so they let it slide. Technically the plate was not permanently affixed. I bought my Road King in 2008, and I just went out to the garage to un-earth my original tag. You can see the month 3 was on a separate sticker from the year (2009 expiration, registered in March 2008) Like Gonemad said sometime in 2008 the inspection was recorded on database and you can't renew tag without inspection completed.
I bought my first street bike (Yamaha XS-650) from my uncle. He had an Evo Road King. He still says that was the best bike he ever had.
I always find these posts when I am about to leave for work...sorry if I am brief but yes, time to give it all the "once over", and it looks like your leaking from the 5th gear main shaft seal, but the problem is, the leaking can be from any one of 5 different seals, or more than one, so...
Your at a point where the "might as wells" make sense. It's mostly all apart so you should take advantage of that and replace all seals in there. Quad seal and spacer, spacer seal (the big one), and 5th gear main shaft seal (wedding band seal). In addition, I would seriously consider a new inner primary bearing, IPB seal, and race. New pulley nut. New shift shaft seal. Use OEM parts....your going to need some specialty tools, (an investment) but worth the expense and you can save some coin if you shop around on the tools. (race puller, deep 1-7/8 pulley nut socket). Some will also purchase a specialty seal installer but not totally needed.
Inspect parts to see if you have the upgraded pulley and spacer or the older style pulley and spacer. If old style, consider changing to newer style. Added expense will be a new front pulley.
Others will chime in with more details. Not a bad project but a little spooky if never done before, but still do-able if you take your time, read up on the project and ask questions. Gotta head to work.
Thanks for the input...and I "might as well". Well there is one bright side, I do not have to pull the case in order to diasassemble the transmission.
How do I know/how can I tell if I have the upgraded spacer and pully?
So before I begin the transmission take down the next steps are going to be a rebuild on rear brake master cylinder, cleaning and polishing saddlebags and gas tank, cleaning and polishing rocker box covers, pulling the cam cover, replacing cam gear and cam gear bearing, pulling lifter blocks, new lifters and gaskets, new cone cover gasket, new cam sensor plate and rebuild carb. Thought is to be ready to put everything back together once the heads and cylinders are done.
Going to take my time and make a list of needed parts and tools I will need in order to get into the transmission. Looks like I have some reading to do as well.
Seems as tho by the time I am done, (after also going thru the front end at some point) the only thing i will not have done is split the cases. Almost seems like a "barn find" but without the barn.
Last edited by panz4ever; Mar 29, 2022 at 11:18 AM.
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