Oh, I think you were charged all right. It just wasn't itemized. They slipped it in elsewhere. These vehicle dealers are some of the most slippery kind of people on the planet. The easiest place to slip it in on you at a Harley store is in the Freight and Set up charges.

 

 

Why don't you just ask the dealership?

 

Could it be that the trans oil can leak into the primary because of damaged inner trans mainshaft support bearing? I do have a whining noise mainly on decel in 3rd and 4th gear. Aren't the shiftable sprockets of the 3rd and 4th gear located on the mainshaft?

 

All I know is that HD appear to be slow at leading the charge here. They will probably wait until it's broke.

 

Check mine again still no changes in levels in primary and trans.

 

Exactly 37 ounces. Trans looks good.

 

why the heck would you change them every 2500? even in the old days people went 3k, and that is excessive.

I would hate to be going to the dealer so much. That would drive me nuts. Maybe that is just evey year or two for some, so no big deal.

 

Not sure what you mean by "shiftable" as non of the sprockets slide but only 5th and 6th are controlled by clutch dogs on the mainshaft. 1st through 4th are done on the layshaft.

 

Steve really hits the nail on the head here. It's really all about how much load you are putting on the bike. I ride two up all the time. I am 250 lbs and the wife is 140 lbs. We mostly ride on the mountains/hills and country road. The average load on my bike is going to be a little higher than most, which is probably why I am seeing higher levels of transfer.

Right now I currently have 2500 miles on my M8. I wasn't paying attention at first but after seeing this HDforum post(thank you MJWebb), I started watching the tranny levels. After having to add twice in the 2500 miles, I decided to drain the primary. With the bike upright, I started taking the derby cover off and immediately oil started gushing out (with the plug still in). All my fears of what I had been reading suddenly hit me. This is real. At this point I turned it into a bit of a science experiment and measured everything that came out of the primary. I ended up having 48 oz of oil in the primary. Spec is 34 dry.

From here I think all we can do is inform everyone we know who has an M8 to monitor their transmission level. Even if they are getting ready to take it in for a 1k or 5k within a few hundred miles, check your transmission level. I personally think the 1k and 5k are "masking" why we haven't heard more about this. Customers just aren't checking their levels or monitoring this to the degree we have. They bring it in to the dealer and the dealer dumps all three holes. Level doesn't get checked until they fill them back up. Not saying this is right or wrong, but when the bike comes in running great, there is little reason for the dealer to monitor what comes out of the primary or tranny.

If you end up seeing your tranny go low a time or two, dump the primary and measure what comes out. Shouldn't be much more than 32-36 oz. Then notify your dealer. HD isn't going to rush out a fix if dealers aren't seeing the problem.