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, as per your manual, as synthetics are not suitable or even necessary for an older engine like yours. I use mineral in my Sporty and Buell, but synth with my S&S engine as that is what they recommend.

 

You should be looking for this

If it was mine I would just run the HD 360 oil in 20w-50.

 

Welcome aboard. I agree w Mr Brown. I run dino oil in my shovel.

 

Shovel oil... I would agree dino, synthetic is meant for tighter tolerance engines.

 

Thank you for your replies. I made that question because in the '70 era there was no synthetic oil on the market and now with new oils, I thought maybe it could bring benefits like less operating temperature, less friction and noise and more smooth functioning.
We usually roll the bikes at temperatures between 77ºF and 95ºF (25ºC-35ºC).

 

One of the benefits of your friend's shovel is that it was made before EPA got it's teeth into the motorcycle market, so it can and should run reasonably cool, compared with modern bikes that come stock with cats. In fact my shovel tended to run rich (I bought it new in 1974), rather than lean, which modern vehicles do. So while modern lubricants do offer benefits over mineral oils, they haven't stood still either, and modern additives will ensure a shovel can run on mineral oils better than the day it was made, IMHO.

Now if that engine was to be rebuilt from the ground up, using modern components such as S&S, it would be worth considering using synthetics, but not if it is original.

 

grbrown, thanks for the input.