My inner primary mainshaft bearing on my 2008 Ultra was noisy, so over the winter, I decided to install a new bearing using a Drag Specialties kit. It had been a few years since the last time I had the inner primary off, and since I had plenty of time, I decided to do the job in the evenings after work.
Come spring, and off I go for my first (quiet) ride - but the next morning there was an oil puddle under the primary. Whaaaaat...?
At first I thought it was the shift shaft seal, then, maybe the starter o-ring had curled when I inserted it; but when I took it all apart again I saw what I had done - put the primary bearing oil seal in frontwards - which is backwards!
Both the service manual and the OEM Harley seal remind you that the "rubber" side of the seal is the "oil side" (facing the clutch, not the starter). But since I didn't have either, I installed the seal in the normal way with the rubber side out.
So I'm just passing this along to my fellow riders in hopes that maybe I'll save one or two people the same fate. It seems odd to install a seal with the rubber in and the back of the seal showing, but that's the way it goes.
Take a look at the photos and don't do what I did!

 

A good rule of thumb is spring towards the side that has the oil. YD

 

are those 2 pics the same side of the inner primary? trying to identify what specifically is the seal in the pic that was put in backwards

 

Good post. Another thing to add is that if you look at the seal the rubber sealing part is offset from the outside ring. The offset needs to be to the bearing side. Some after market seals are flat.. They will start to leak after a few thousand miles. When flat they are installed with the rubber side out. One problem that occurs is that since they are flat the outer lip may not run on the inner bearing sleeve. Dirt / water can get into the sleeve and rust / trash the inner bearing surface. The rough surface then eat the seal and it leaks..

The bearing kits from drag are pretty good. They have the new type offset seal but as shown by the OP they get installed kinda backwards from what you'd normally think.

 

Hey, sorry for the late reply. Those pics are taken from the drive pulley side of the inner primary chaincase. (the drive pulley is the toothed pulley that drives the rear wheel via the drive belt) So its on the outside of the chaincase ( not the side that comes in contact with the primary oil) on the back side of the primary chaincase. Did that help?