I need expert advice about what kind of oil to use in a Shovel. One friend bought a 1976 Shovel with 15.000 miles in the odometer. In the service manual says to put mineral oil, but nowadays, there are also synthetic oils.
Is it safe to change the oil type with that mileage (from mineral to synthetic)? If yes, what viscosity grade do you recommend? 20W-50?
Thanks.

 

Stick with mineral oils, as per the manual, there is nothing to be gained by swapping to synth IMHO, on an older engine especially. Modern engines that use synth oils use different materials, also tighter running clearances. I run synth in my 2008 S&S engine, as that is what they recommend, however I continue to run mineral oils in my 2007 Buell and 2011 Sporty.

 

been running mobil v-twin 20-50 in a 79 shovel for many, many years.

 

I ran 20w50 an straight 50 weight in mine....if you ride in extreme heat some guys run straight 60 wt

 

It's a long time since I sold my shovel, but that sounds like what the owners manual suggests! It doesn't get so hot over here, but I used the first two oils seasonally.

 

Sorry about the double topic. I published the first one and did not appear in the forum so I made a new topic, but now it's appeared.
Would it be possible for the administrator to merge this topic to the other one?
You can find the other one here: https://www.hdforums.com/forum/oil-a...-a-shovel.html

 

That would be only half the fun!!!!

 

Hahaha, nice entry, grbrown!

 

I have used Valvoline VR-1 60wt. in mine. Pretty good stuff.

 

the VR-1 would be a good choice since it's not syn (my shovel tended to mark it's territory) an it's high zinc content.