Have had my '89 softail undergoing a major cosmetic rehab the las few months. Was running good and had full oil tank when I put it on the jack.
Changed oil tanks and when I pulled the original tank it was empty so all oil is currently in the sump. Now the question, should i put a little oil in the tank before the pending restart, or should i pull the plugs and crank it over until i have oil returning to the tank? Any other thoughts appreciated.

 

Put about 1/2 qt in the tank and pull the plugs,
crank it over till you get a return,
also route the vent hose to a container to catch the oil that might puke out when you start it.

 

It'll get messy whatever you do, have plenty of rags and degreaser to hand....

 

Just for kicks you might want to pull the derby cover and make sure the oil didn't leak through to your primary.

That happened to a friend of mine a while back.

 

Ok guy's, I pulled the plugs and spun it over and watched for oil returning to the tank. Didn't take long and i had some coming back. Had some coming out of breather tube (hanging down under the frame). Figured I'd crank some more oil up in to the tank, It was still coming into the tank but a lot more was coming out of the breather tube. I kept at it until there was very little coming out the tube but I had a lot more oil under the bike in the catch pan than in the oil tank, I would guess 75-80% of the oil ended up in the catch pan. Question, is there more to this sumping problem than first appears, maybe vent gear broken, or what else? Any thoughts appreciated, Thanks

 

It's the check valve, not the vent gear.
John