I recently picked up an 07 heritage. Prior to that I rode a shovelhead so this is my first experience with a twin cam. On the shovel I ran straight 50w in the winter and 60w in the summer. So my question is do twin cam owners in hot climates (Texas here) switch to straight weight oil in the summer heat or do you guys run the 20w50 stuff year-round?

 

20-50 in all three holes all the time... 53K miles and never had a problem or issue with anything...

I change the engine oils around 4500 to 5000,, primary every oil change and the tranny once a yr because I usually don't put over 10k a yr on the bike...


Its worked good for me.....

 

Pretty hot at times here in Perth Western Australia

Several days over 40C just recently ( it's southern hemisphere summer after all y'see !)

Mobil 1 V Twin 20W50 OR Redline HD 20W60 all year round for me ( us )

Redline Heavy Shockproof in the gearbox/transmission

 

Thanks for the replies. The service manual lists the same oil weights as the shovelhead for high temps. I was kind of wondering if guys actually run those weights.

 

Houston area Texas Gulf Coast gets Africa hot from June-October and getting stuck in traffic on a triple-digit day is a **** on you and your ride...

53,500 miles with HD Syn3 in all three holes with an oil cooler...looking to put a fan on the cooler before this summer.

 

In North Texas here and I run a Jagg 10 row cooler with Liquid Moly 10W-60 year round in the engine and primary. Mobil 1, 95-140 in the trans.

 

Minor thread hijack

I'm also running a Jagg 10-row and the Liqui Moly 10W-60 and I really do like it, I've been getting it at the NAPA store in 5 liter jugs and I'm running Redline w/shockproof in the transmission. My question is how you like the Liqui Moly in the primary.

I'd wanted to try it but as it wasn't JASO certified I didn't and have been using Mobil 1 Racing 4T 10W-40 synthetic which is JASO. I ordered a liter of the Liqui Moly 10W-60 Racing 4T to try this spring as it is JASO certified but I'm very curious how you like the 10W-60 purple jug Liqui Moly in the primary and if you've noticed any clutch slippage.

I half wonder if the purple jug 10W-60 and the black jug 10W-60 4T aren't really the same thing but they certified the 4T. There's a big price difference; the black jug 4T is $22/liter, the purple jug is $8.20 a liter

 

I haven't had any clutch slippage but I did notice the primary seems a little noisier. Finding neutral isn't as easy as it used to be so I may switch up to something else in the primary.

 

Thanks for the input! If it helps you out at all looking at primary fluids, I did a summer's worth of experiments with primary fluids, I posted up the results here: https://www.hdforums.com/forum/oil-a...l#post14582840

 

Service manuals do reccomend straight weights when in the high heat.
50W, and 60W are clearly stated for a good reason, and are to be used in these air/oil cooled, loose tolerance, engines.
We reccomend 20W50 in the spring and fall, here, and 50W in the summer months even here in the Northeast.
We have now used/stocked Red Line synthetics in both the chaincase and transmission now for well over 20 years.
Decades of this methodology, in hundreds/thousands of bikes for engine builds and regular service work, plainly speaks for itself.
It works.
Scott