Originally Posted by gilmour68

Oldskool,

Like I mentioned in an eariler thread concerning this same problem, the size of the oil seal/shifter shaft varies a little bit from year to year. I have an '04 and though I don't have the part # from the chrome primary cover I bought, I believe it ended in -04. This usually means (I think) that the part will fit '04 and later models.

I learned (after several trips to the stealer) that the diameters of the seal used on an '06 is different. Believe me, the parts guy doesn't necessarily know about these differences. Most of the time they're looking up the part numbers on a computer and pulling parts from a shelf based on what you tell him or her. It took me two or three trips before they finally realized there were different seals available for rubber-mounted Sportys.

When I used the '04 seal, the fit with the primary cover was very loose and oil leaked around it.

When I got the seal for the '06, it closed the gap on the primary, but the shifter shaft was loose and oil leaked there.

I scratched my head and thought about it for a while (2 or 3 beers) and decided to do the following --

1) I removed both seals from the cover. I installed the '06 seal into the cover first. This ensured a good seal with the primary cover, but allowed the shifter shaft to move.

2) I then installed the '04 seal ON TOP of the '06 seal. This created a good seal around the shifter shaft.

3) With both seals installed, the rubber spacer that sits between the seal and the shift lever itself was too thick. I cut it in half - think of slicing a bagel in half and you'll get the idea.

4) Install the new, thinner rubber seal over the shifter shaft, attach the shift lever, apply a bit of inward pressure and tighten the bitch down. Problem solved.

When I had this problem, I had it fixed within a couple of days. Now, maybe the Nightster primary you're dealing with has different dimensions than the one I installed, but I think it's worth a try.

As I mentioned in the earlier thread, I ran over 4k miles with this mod and lost very little oil over that time. Usually there's a thin film of oil on the primary originating from the seal. But not enough leaks to leave even a small spot of oil on the pavement after a 100 mile run.

I measured nearly a full qt when I drained the tranny last week (again after 4k miles). So I have no reason to mess with my current setup. My fix cost at most $10 and a couple of trips to the stealer.

I'm not sure at the moment what year bike yours is, but I doubt you're going to find a magic fix (or part) for this problem if you're using '08 parts on an older bike...

Good luck...