I went to the local O'Reilly auto to get oil and filters for my 2005 FXST and the wife's 883. The guy at the counter pulled the sportster one out without looking it up (he rides a sporty) then went to look up the part number for mine. The computer showed the same part#. I bought filters from the dealer before and they told me not to mix them up. They even went as far as marking them so I would make sure that I didn't put the Softail filter on the sportster of vice versa. Seems like they said there is a check valve in one. why would Wix recommend the same filter when Harley has 2 different ones? Any advice on buying the Wix filters verses going back to the dealer?

 

Same part # shows up on Wix's site for both bikes: 57148

 

Exactly.
I believe the 57148 is the chrome filter
I just got the 54148(black) for my fxsti
To run with conventional oil for 1000 miles then ill get a chrome one when I switch back to synthetic.

 

Yeah I was just wondering if there is a reason wix recommend the same for both bikes but HD has two different ones

 

You could consult wix customer service. They may be able to say. I'm sure they will say it will work for both though.

 

Harley does some silly stuff sometimes.

 

Think I'll do that and call the dealer. I had a suzuki m50 once and wix listed the wrong filter for it. I ended up on the phone with them, turns out they had it listed as a 50cc instead of a 50ci. Guess mistakes happen. I'll let you know what they tell me.

 

Yes they do. If I remember correctly though, the parts people said one had a check valve and the other didn't.

 

There is a website out there where they have analyzed all of the oil filters for bikes out there. All I remember was Fram was really bad. Wal-Marts house brand was pretty good if I remember correctly. I would be curious to see how HD stacks up.

 

Let us know how it turns out. Out of curiosity, where is the filter located on the the Sporty?