Rotella T ????
Seasoned HDF Member
Joined: Jun 2012
Posts: 6,120
Likes: 2,502
From: CT/FL
I guess some people don't believe we landed men on the moon either...
Road Master
Joined: Mar 2013
Posts: 817
Likes: 380
From: Central Ohio
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The 5w-40 syn rotella i was reffering to is in fact the T6 i unfortunately didnt put the 6 with the t,sorry about that.
But point of bringing it up at all was OP put the question about rotella t for primary and they mfg diff grades syn & std dino rotella T , T6 etc and i was aking which he was reffering to.
Also passed along info i got from speaking to shell oil engineer for other oil research i was doing at the time where he told me they had frictions mods in those oils which isnt always wet clutch friendly which i simply passed along.
And i didnt bother to mention this when i 1st posted in this thread but since your being over critical about what i had posted and are rec improper shell oil thats not specifically mfg'd & or formulated for any of hd's 3 holes is when i asked if he'd rec running any of the shell rotella line of oils in the 1700cc air cooled v-twin with wet clutch i was running at the time and he said no because they not are properly formulated for use in motorcycle apps with fric mods in it without proper chem additive pkg too (esp increased zddp/anti wear agent our bike motors benefit from) and rec using motorcycle specific oil in a grade the motorcycle mfg recs using.
I never ever said rotella was bad oil or poor quality and your going on and on about how the shell oi can handle 600hp,so what,walmart oil could handle it for x amount of time too which isnt whats being questioned .
I also said using the shell oil would not cause prim to blow up any time soon too and said right after that my rec was that its always best to use oil thats specifically mfg'd & formulated for app its being used in like for example with our HD's using primary oil in the primary case , trans oil in trans and motor oil in motor which is never a bad rec or wrong thing to do either
You can argue that till the cows come home but since we all have to buy some kind of oil for all 3 holes in our HD's why the heck not buy whats specifically & or formulated to run in each of the different 3 holes in our HD's in the 1st place ?
I strongly suspect if just that/guys using improper oil in motor , prim & trans that thats at times is leading to premature failures of of bearings , chain tensioners etc.
And ATF in prim guys are running does allows the clutch to release better to reduce or stop clunk when shifting which some clutch mfg rec using to get out of trouble with compalints with clunking shifting .
But problem is ATF is thin as water vs proper 85w prim case oil along with no having proper additive pkg like the 85w prim case oil has for hd that will properly/safely lube the prim case and associated bearing-s that are known to go bad which i think at times is due the too thin aft not lubing the low quality bearings hd has been using and or running std motor like rotella thats not rec by shell engineer i talked to either.
And yes i know some car/small truck mfg's do use aft in man trans apps but that works ok because "THOSE TANSMISSIONS INC PARTS LIKE BEARINGS ETC ARE ALL SPECIFICALLY DESIGNED & MFG'D TO BE LUBE WITH thin AFT INC THE CHEMICALL ADDITIVE PKG IT HAS TOO" !
But HD's prim or motor etc were not never desinged for atf or rotella oil so they are not the best choice oils for those apps unless its an emeregency and you cant get for ex proper motor oil where they temporarily rec 15w-40 diesel oil in the motor but to change oil ASAP when you get home to proper hd rec oil.
And if i has to do i would not use rottella 15w-40 ,i would use chevrons delo 15w-40 diesel oil not because the rotella 15-40 is because its not,its because chevrons diesel oil is also a decent oil but it still has a decnet zddp/zinc % phos lvl of 1300ppm where std rotella 15-40 zddp lvl is approx 1150-1200ppm and for air cooled bike motors esp hd motor that we all know get nice and hot approx 1200-1300ppm zddp (anyiwear agent!) lvl is about the least you want to go for best protection.
All the diesel oils used to have approx 1500ppm zddp byt the fed gov/epa mandated the zddp lvl be reduced a few times (in steps) over the past approx 10yrs or so due to emissions issues caused in some cases by zddp in ex gases of motor using oil prematurely fouling cat converters resulting high emission's and car mfg's having to replace the cats under warranty.
We will just have to agree to disagree on this one and i will stick with my rec to run oil thats specifically formulated for each of the 3 holes in our HD's which i feel is in no way shape or form a bad or poor rec to make to anyone here in this forum .
Happy motoring!
Scott
The 5w-40 syn rotella i was reffering to is in fact the T6 i unfortunately didnt put the 6 with the t,sorry about that.
But point of bringing it up at all was OP put the question about rotella t for primary and they mfg diff grades syn & std dino rotella T , T6 etc and i was aking which he was reffering to.
Also passed along info i got from speaking to shell oil engineer for other oil research i was doing at the time where he told me they had frictions mods in those oils which isnt always wet clutch friendly which i simply passed along.
And i didnt bother to mention this when i 1st posted in this thread but since your being over critical about what i had posted and are rec improper shell oil thats not specifically mfg'd & or formulated for any of hd's 3 holes is when i asked if he'd rec running any of the shell rotella line of oils in the 1700cc air cooled v-twin with wet clutch i was running at the time and he said no because they not are properly formulated for use in motorcycle apps with fric mods in it without proper chem additive pkg too (esp increased zddp/anti wear agent our bike motors benefit from) and rec using motorcycle specific oil in a grade the motorcycle mfg recs using.
I never ever said rotella was bad oil or poor quality and your going on and on about how the shell oi can handle 600hp,so what,walmart oil could handle it for x amount of time too which isnt whats being questioned .
I also said using the shell oil would not cause prim to blow up any time soon too and said right after that my rec was that its always best to use oil thats specifically mfg'd & formulated for app its being used in like for example with our HD's using primary oil in the primary case , trans oil in trans and motor oil in motor which is never a bad rec or wrong thing to do either
You can argue that till the cows come home but since we all have to buy some kind of oil for all 3 holes in our HD's why the heck not buy whats specifically & or formulated to run in each of the different 3 holes in our HD's in the 1st place ?
I strongly suspect if just that/guys using improper oil in motor , prim & trans that thats at times is leading to premature failures of of bearings , chain tensioners etc.
And ATF in prim guys are running does allows the clutch to release better to reduce or stop clunk when shifting which some clutch mfg rec using to get out of trouble with compalints with clunking shifting .
But problem is ATF is thin as water vs proper 85w prim case oil along with no having proper additive pkg like the 85w prim case oil has for hd that will properly/safely lube the prim case and associated bearing-s that are known to go bad which i think at times is due the too thin aft not lubing the low quality bearings hd has been using and or running std motor like rotella thats not rec by shell engineer i talked to either.
And yes i know some car/small truck mfg's do use aft in man trans apps but that works ok because "THOSE TANSMISSIONS INC PARTS LIKE BEARINGS ETC ARE ALL SPECIFICALLY DESIGNED & MFG'D TO BE LUBE WITH thin AFT INC THE CHEMICALL ADDITIVE PKG IT HAS TOO" !
But HD's prim or motor etc were not never desinged for atf or rotella oil so they are not the best choice oils for those apps unless its an emeregency and you cant get for ex proper motor oil where they temporarily rec 15w-40 diesel oil in the motor but to change oil ASAP when you get home to proper hd rec oil.
And if i has to do i would not use rottella 15w-40 ,i would use chevrons delo 15w-40 diesel oil not because the rotella 15-40 is because its not,its because chevrons diesel oil is also a decent oil but it still has a decnet zddp/zinc % phos lvl of 1300ppm where std rotella 15-40 zddp lvl is approx 1150-1200ppm and for air cooled bike motors esp hd motor that we all know get nice and hot approx 1200-1300ppm zddp (anyiwear agent!) lvl is about the least you want to go for best protection.
All the diesel oils used to have approx 1500ppm zddp byt the fed gov/epa mandated the zddp lvl be reduced a few times (in steps) over the past approx 10yrs or so due to emissions issues caused in some cases by zddp in ex gases of motor using oil prematurely fouling cat converters resulting high emission's and car mfg's having to replace the cats under warranty.
We will just have to agree to disagree on this one and i will stick with my rec to run oil thats specifically formulated for each of the 3 holes in our HD's which i feel is in no way shape or form a bad or poor rec to make to anyone here in this forum .
Happy motoring!
Scott
Every "primary" oil I've seen has looked/felt like ATF. I'm sorry, but if ATF can handle what a modern manual trans, transfer case, and a planetary gear set throw at it, I'm sure your puzzy little HD chaincase will be just fine.
I'm all for running specific oils for specific applications, but if Rotella told me a certain 5w40 was compatible with a wet-clutch, I wouldn't flinch if I had to use it.
And your BS additive package statement, claiming our magical air cooled, under engineered, under powered, fuel guzzling v-twins need more zinc/ phosphorus than a flat tappet cam'd ISB Cummins that'll run for 1M miles? GTFO and sell your Golden Spectro somewhere else.
The OP wanted to know if he could use Rotella in his primary? Rotella says he can, end of story.
Seasoned HDF Member
Joined: Apr 2008
Posts: 10,135
Likes: 4,774
From: Sandpoint, Idaho
Haha, really dude? 85w primary oil? Good luck getting a clutch to release with that!
Every "primary" oil I've seen has looked/felt like ATF. I'm sorry, but if ATF can handle what a modern manual trans, transfer case, and a planetary gear set throw at it, I'm sure your puzzy little HD chaincase will be just fine.
I'm all for running specific oils for specific applications, but if Rotella told me a certain 5w40 was compatible with a wet-clutch, I wouldn't flinch if I had to use it.
And your BS additive package statement, claiming our magical air cooled, under engineered, under powered, fuel guzzling v-twins need more zinc/ phosphorus than a flat tappet cam'd ISB Cummins that'll run for 1M miles? GTFO and sell your Golden Spectro somewhere else.
The OP wanted to know if he could use Rotella in his primary? Rotella says he can, end of story.
Every "primary" oil I've seen has looked/felt like ATF. I'm sorry, but if ATF can handle what a modern manual trans, transfer case, and a planetary gear set throw at it, I'm sure your puzzy little HD chaincase will be just fine.
I'm all for running specific oils for specific applications, but if Rotella told me a certain 5w40 was compatible with a wet-clutch, I wouldn't flinch if I had to use it.
And your BS additive package statement, claiming our magical air cooled, under engineered, under powered, fuel guzzling v-twins need more zinc/ phosphorus than a flat tappet cam'd ISB Cummins that'll run for 1M miles? GTFO and sell your Golden Spectro somewhere else.
The OP wanted to know if he could use Rotella in his primary? Rotella says he can, end of story.
Road Warrior
Joined: May 2007
Posts: 1,421
Likes: 380
From: Arkansastan
Not knocking ATF as I use it myself, but the argument of big equipment drive cases and such is are they pressurized or splash lubed? I know some Ford pickup specified ATF in their manual trannies, splash lubed (as far as I know), and able to be reliable well into the 6-digit mileage numbers. I figure if it can do that in a vehicle that will most likely haul around an ATV or a small work trailer all its life without issues, it should surely work ok (with its added performance benefits of better shifting, etc.) in my ultra-sophisticated chain drive primary...
Seasoned HDF Member
Joined: Apr 2008
Posts: 10,135
Likes: 4,774
From: Sandpoint, Idaho
Caterpillar Motor Graders are not pressurized. The chains are submerged in ATF.
Thread Starter
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Road Warrior
Joined: May 2012
Posts: 1,570
Likes: 117
From: Southeast NC
ok. i changed my primary oil this morning on my ultra after posting this and getting some great answers. put on about 100 miles today. long story short, the Rotella T 15w40 works awesome. shifts smoother. less clunk i got this stuff for almost free and i just wanted to make sure i wasnt putting something in that would slip the plates. all is good. everything seems fine. thx
Synthetic Oil
After reading about 30 or more answers, my head is spinning with all the info put out...which is a good thing if you can keep up...I can't.
Someone please answer this (somewhat simple) question. I just bought a 2010 Ultra from a friend and he had used synthetic since new. It now has 27,000 + and I am going to change everything myself. (crankcase, primary and trans). What would the best synthetic be for all 3? I'll only say that the bike does not shift well (clunks) into every gear. I know that may come from clutch adjustment though. Thanks
Someone please answer this (somewhat simple) question. I just bought a 2010 Ultra from a friend and he had used synthetic since new. It now has 27,000 + and I am going to change everything myself. (crankcase, primary and trans). What would the best synthetic be for all 3? I'll only say that the bike does not shift well (clunks) into every gear. I know that may come from clutch adjustment though. Thanks
I have used Rotella T 15-40, Walmart Transmission fluid and Redline V-Twin Primary oil. Call me a Cro-Magnon, but I can't tell any difference in the three.... but the price. Same clunk and shifting to second and third. Same clunk dropping into first. I will probably still use the Redline as I buy the package. But I wouldn't lose sleep over using any oil formulated for trannys.
Outstanding HDF Member
Joined: Nov 2008
Posts: 2,034
Likes: 127
I have always liked Rotella T 15-40 in the primary because it does not contain any friction modifiers in it. I also like it because it is light enough to provide lubrication to the compensator. Another excellent choice would be the Harley primary case lubricant from the dealer.
I use Rotella 15-40 in my crankcase as well so the use of it in the primary is handy.
I like a light gear lube in the transmission, usually a 90 wt. or less because I feel that something like a 140 is just too thick for a motorcycle. If you had an 80,000 pound Kenworth motorcycle I would say a 140 wt gear oil would be called for, but not with a 1000 pound Harley.
This is just my personal preference and I am absolutely positive that every other swinging Richard out there has his own preferences.
I use Rotella 15-40 in my crankcase as well so the use of it in the primary is handy.
I like a light gear lube in the transmission, usually a 90 wt. or less because I feel that something like a 140 is just too thick for a motorcycle. If you had an 80,000 pound Kenworth motorcycle I would say a 140 wt gear oil would be called for, but not with a 1000 pound Harley.
This is just my personal preference and I am absolutely positive that every other swinging Richard out there has his own preferences.