You must have been writing your post while I was working on mine. We’re on the same page. I don’t see that the barrier does anything good. Now it could if it sealed the mainshaft end from the rest of the transmission. Then you would have to drill a hole on outside to vent the primary.

 

I think that would work, but I did notice that the 2013 and below Hydraulic actuator plates have the same barrier without the same issues.
So I wonder if it's really the missing oil slinger deal that is the main culprit. Guy on the, "There is a fix!" thread seems to think so... interesting.

 

Well I think you meant 2013 and newer have the same plate. And according to the bulletin put out by the MOCO some of them experienced transfer. I don’t know why the 2013’s weren’t included on that bulletin. There is something about the M8 that’s making it more prone to do this. Possibly the scissor first gear pushes more oil, maybe the level of oil in the transmission, but if that’s the case I think it would stop after it transferred enough to drop the level. Steve Cole has seen them transfer all but about 4 oz., so it’s not stopping when the level drops. It only makes sense that if the oil is kept from collecting at the mainshaft end the chance of transfer should cease or be severely reduced.

 

The MoCo can't recall the bikes if they don't know how to fix the problem or even what's causing it, for that matter. Apparently, their "new product testing" involves riding the bike around the block and if it makes it back to the factory door, then it's good to go.

That's a pretty pathetic state of affairs right there. Business as usual for the ol' MoCo, of course.

 

Yeah, it's in the user CP. I use it all the time!

It doesn't use the word "idiot", but I think it's implied.

 

Sorry, that's what I meant. 2013 an newer. Yeah, 2013 was not on the bulletin so I wonder if it was just an oversight or something was somehow different.
The 2014-2016s didn't have the first gear scissor gear so we know that's new.

 

So from what I can tell the scissor gear is on the countershaft. If it is pushing more oil than the previous gear that could be blocking the oil around the mainshaft end from draining or even pushing oil into that space. The thread that was started yesterday mentioned baffles which is basically something I suggested on a previous post by cutting stainless steel sheet metal washers that cover the bearings and slow the flow of oil through the bearings. From what I can see this isn't something that they have had previously, but I don't see how it could hurt anything. Eighteen or twenty two gauge metal would probably work and it is not very thick. Eighteen is 3/64 and twenty two is 1/32". That in conjunction with machining away the barrier might be the ticket. The thing we don't know is what the engineers at Harley have already tried that hasn't worked. From what we have been told by members that have had an attempted fix at a dealer, I don't think this has been attempted yet.

 

You say machine from the inner part only out to the the ring?? You only make the chamber bigger by doing that.. You still don't give the oil a way out.. The clay basically defines the chamber.. Yes the mainshaft and nut extend int the cover slightly.. If anything machine the outside to an OD say 1/4 inch smaller than the clay (1/8 per side). Give the oil a way to leave the area.. I would not machine the inside section where the red arrow points. Keep that close as any oil entering that area should be flung out by the spinning nut.

 

Ok, so what I am proposing is taking out the material circled in yellow or just a little less. If you look at the parts drawing which is a view from the other side, what this does is open the hydraulic actuator pocket so that there is no partition or barrier holding oil between it and the actuator. This allows oil to drain freely. Could it lead to other problems? Maybe. I have no idea what purpose the engineer that designed this had in mind for the barrier. If it was meant to keep oil away from the mainshaft end it seems it may be doing the complete opposite.

 

As I said long ago, the real problem is how much oil is being pushed into the area. This is why I have been looking for a sealed bearing. This would stop all the oil being supplied from the bearing itself.

The ring area where Max has circled is only 0.040" from the machined surface on the bearing plate when installed. I took the bearing plate and machined it to gain clearance to allow the oil a way out. I removed ~ 0.125" from the bearing plate in this area which is about as far as you can. If you were to cut anymore away you cut into the snap-ring area. I also made small bevel cut around the the outer edge of the circle Max drew to open the clearance as much as I could on that side. The problem is those areas on the cover are very thin and not much can be removed or you break through to the outer side. Since the newer slave does not have the o-ring seal I did not want to break into that area. I also made a new gasket out of 1/8" material to space the cover away from the bearing plate, again to gain clearance for the oil to get out.

All of this with the slinger ring installed did not stop oil transfer. So I then moved into the oil balance hole that is in the bearing plate, thinking it might be not allowing the oil back through the plate fast enough. Made a deflector cover that would stop or at least slow that from happening and installed it. No change from the previous testing.

There has been a few more things that showed no promise in testing, so I will not bother talking about those but this is a bigger problem than many would think. The sealed bearing is the next thing that I feel needs testing.

I have a Baker cover that Mark from Baker has supplied and it has much more open area in it and I will try that as soon as I can get back onto it. If and when I can get a sealed bearing that will be tried as well.