Hi, I have started doing my own maintenance and have discovered what I thought was a good variety of tools is always coming up short..I have had to go to the store four times while doing brakes (pads and flushing the lines)..For tools, anti seize compound,etc.
This got me thinking..does anybody have a list of what is needed when working on a Harley? Tools, compounds, etc?

I would like to do a store run and get as much of what I would ever need.

 

I would start with a set of combination wrenches from top to bottom.

A set of 3/8 inch drive 6 point sockets shallow and deep. A set of 12 point sockets since it's a Harley.

3/8 inch drive T handle.

A set of allen keys.

3/8 inch drive set of torx bits

3/8 inch drive short and long allen keys.

If you can afford it get standard and metric sizes. If not just start with what youll be using most.

Soft faced hammer

Set of pliers

Water proof grease

High temp never seize

Contact cleaner like brake clean

Simple green.

Shop rags

Anything else I would make a trip to the store. I like tools but I also don't like buying stuff I wont use. Stuff like ratcheting wrenches are nice but you can get by without them.

 

Get a longer-than-standard length set of ball-end allen wrenches while you're at it. One or two *WILL* come in handy when you have to remove/install the intake manifold on EFI bikes. At least two of those bolts are real SoB's to get at and you'll still have to grind down one of your standard allen wrenches (the short end after the bend) to get to a third one of those bolts.

A breaker bar.

A good torque wrench or two (foot pounds and inch pounds).

As said in another post, make sure to have plenty of red and blue loctite, dialectric grease, anti-seize and a tube of good thick standard grease for when you can't get a gasket to stay on somewhere a dab or three in different spots will often hold it there until you get whatever it is attached to it finally.

A *GOOD* and *BRIGHT* shop light that's easy to get into spots without getting too much in your way (just like working on cars and such, the shop you're in can have fantastic lighting, but for up-close and in dark recesses of a motor, you *NEED* a light right there to see better). Often a nice head light that wraps around your head can also work well or a two AA battery MagLite (LED!) you can hold in your mouth if it's only for a short time.

Get a couple two or three 5 gallon bucket lids to use as tool holders and bolt/nut/stuff holders for the area you're working on (for instance, when doing head work, you'll be on both sides of the bike at different times so have two of those lids to keep the bolts and what-have-you to each side to not mix anything up if that's important to you).

IMHO, I wouldn't get 6 point sockets, all I have are the twelve point because they fit on anything the six point will fit on and in some circumstances the six point *will not work because of an angle or the nut/bolt is turned just enough to not be able to get the six point on it whereas the twelve point will. Somebody somewhere many moons ago (I wish I could remember where I read it, more than likely some hot-rod engine rag of some sort back in the 70's and 80's) wrote about experiments with splines and such things and found out that something with *more* (re: thinner) splines on a part was actually stronger than only a few fat splines and it was the same for sockets - the six points weren't as strong and would round faster/easier than the twelve point sockets, etc.

Get a set of adapters for the socket wrenches going bigger *and* smaller (there's only like 4 or 5 and relatively inexpensive).

I've got my 'tool chest' actually on my bike as a tool bag. About half of all the tools I own for working on the bike fit in the bag, the other half are in the carport because things like breaker bars and torque wrenches and 1⅜+ sockets etc, just don't fit too well or are for bigger than side-of-the-road fixes.