Good Morning,

I'm going to help a friend replace his base gaskets. We're going to start tearing it apart this morning. The first thing we'll need to decide is whether to replace both gaskets or just the leaking one. I've did a search and read up on what others have posted, but I'll probably have a lot more questions as we go along.

Let me know if you have any advice or suggestions.

Later,
Hairy Dog

 

Replace one or both, guess thats your call?? I hate leaks and would be curious as to what brand base gaskets you are installing? Some seal better than others and I believe Cometic are the best.
Just my opinion! GoodLuck!!!

P.S. I'd probably replace both for insurance!!

 

In my opinion I'd replace both. Otherwise you'll be doing the other one a little ways down the road. So you might as well save yourself some grief.

 

i only did the front, it was leaking, but then i had a stripped front head bolt and that was why it was leaking. if my head bolts were all tight then i would of replaced both front and back, with james gaskets. not a bad job, takes about a day for both.

 

Thanks for the comments.

My friend just wanted to replace the one (rear). He bought the upper end gasket set from HD. It wasn't to bad of a job (still need to button up the top end). The base gasket we installed was steel.

The reason I wanted to help, is because my rear base gasket is seeping a little on my 97 dresser. I wanted to see how well this turned out before I tried mine.

Later,
Hairy Dog

 

We finished up the base gasket replacement last night. Everything went back together rather easliy (that always worries me). Bike started right and runs good. My friend took it for a short ride (5 miles) and everything looked good.

We'll see how it goes once he gets a few more miles on it.

Later,
Hairy Dog