Its me again asking questions about my "new" bike - 82 FLH. I have been reading thru my manual and have yet to see anything about adding fluid to the primary. I want to remove the derby cover and check for fluid. If it low, what do I put in there? I may just go buy a new primary gasket and pull the whole thing off so I can get a better look. As always, your guidance is appreciated. I assume I fill with some type of fluid up to just below the derby cover level?

 

 

IF it is stock you do nothing...it gets oil from the oil pump when it is running.

 

Thanks for the feedback. Since I have no clue if its stock, the fun begins.

 

Look and see if you have hoses running from the oil pump to the primary

 

ive had the primary off my 82 FLH ..yes it gets oil mist from the breather on your gear case via a hose to the back of your inner primary case.... on further inspection the line was blocked with gunk at the inner primary fitting. I was scratching my head why when i undid the primary drain bolt nothing came out.

 

Well one thing I know for sure is that the final drive chain is getting its fair share of oil. So much in fact, that after a long ride, there will be oil splattered all over the underside of the chain guard and splattered lightly on my back wheel. real pain in the ***. The guy I bought the bike from told me that it does this and that a mechanic had told him there was nothing that could be done about it. I highly doubt that but hopefully I'll find the root of that issue one day.

 

If the system is stock your oil pump will look like this and have hoses coming off the pump as indicated




And as you can see, there is an adjustment screw for your rear chain oiler, so if you beleive it is getting too much oil, you can make an adjustment. However, there will always besome oil coming off the chain

 

With the bike idling and the primary chain inspection cover off (the smallest cover) you should be able to look into the primary and watch oil drip out of a tube and onto the primary chain. That is how the stock primary chain oiler works on a shovel. As was mentioned earlier, there is a tube that runs from the oil pump to the back of the inner primary that feeds the oil in. The oil will get sucked out of the primary and fed back into the oiling system through another hose.

carl

 

Thanks for all the feedback guys!