What does your manual say?

 

I agree there is really no need to change oil on the trip. You could always treat your ride to something extra when you get back...like a full detail or something to make her feel better.

 

Actually I think you ok doing that...In General we throw away so much good oil that could go way further than what we use it.

 

From LI to Sturgis is 1800 miles each way, plus as stated 1000 miles there is a fair guesstimate, so you should be at about 5k when you get home. Do a three hole service before you leave and you will be fine. Also give the tires a look, that for me would be a bigger PITA if once I got there the tires looked thin. I have changed tires a little early just so I am not in the middle of a 10k mile trip and they need a change. Good luck and have fun.

 

5k is standard engine change interval....at that, transmission is now 10k or 20k for many bikes (updated by HD) tho guessing most of us change it annually. Primary is similar 10k (see manual)

I have done 8-10k tours and changed oil in auto parts store parking lots. Most recently in Boston in summer of 2016. Bought a cheap drain pan, gave it away to a shop across the street when I was done.

Sounds like you 'might' hit 5k....I wouldn't worry about it. If you are worried, change in Sturgis, multiple places out there do it on the fly.

 

Change all three holes and filter before you leave. A good synthetic oil in the crankcase,one for the primary and a 75-140 gear oli. If you feel the need,drain the engine oil before you head home. Don’t change the filter to make it quick,easy. Have a good trip!

 

Run a good synthetic and don't waste a second worrying about it. 5k on synthetic is nothing especially if most are highway miles. The whole 3 month/ 3000 mile oil change was invented by big oil companies to of course ramp up sales. I change my engine oil every 5k but i know i could run it a couple thousand more without any issues. Enjoy your trip and change your oil when you get home

 

riding out and back you will be fine if you change before you go and when you get back. We rode out back in 12 from CT and did this and we were fine. However, depending how hot it turns out to be will determine what you should do. There will be many places that will offer oil changes and well worth the insurance for the long ride home.

 

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1st thing is for yrs HD rec'd 5k mile & filter changes so whats wrong with a 4k mile or so oil & filter change using a high quality motorcycle specific full syn 20w-50 oil along with high efficiency oil filter?

Simply use a high quality motorcycle specific 20w-50 oil with high efficiency oil filter and you will be just fine @ 4k miles or so miles.

If you use a quality oil like for example Mobil-1's V-twin 20w-50 full syn oil specifically designed & formulated for air cooled v-twins thats a proven good quality motorcycle oil for many yrs now that can be bought locally at autozone/advancedauto/Napa/Walmart etc your good to go.

It's on sale at time for $8.99 qt in parts stores and a bit cheaper in walmart when on sale too.

M1's 15w-50 nascar approved full syn oil thats also got a good dose of anti wear agent/zinc & Phos/ZDDP (1300ppm/v-twin 20-50 has 1700ppm) is also a good oil in our HD's that normally priced @ $8.99qt & avail in many places too.

The spectro motorcycle specific oil i use has a approx 1500ppm zddp,best place to be with zddp lvl for our air cooled HD's is from a minimum of 1300ppm to max of 1800ppm for best protection from extreme heat,excessive wear,etc along with of course the oil also having a high quality base stock oil with a properly balanced quality chemical additive pkg too.

The M1's a good choice for use on a trip because if you need to top off oil lvl along the way you could simply pick it up local just about where ever you are along the trip route because it's avail at many places & not have to carry oil or mix oil mfg's/brands/type oil to top off along the way if required.

Also,i called the m1 oil tech line to ask what max amount of miles they rec to run their v-twin 20w-50 full syn in an HD and they said 6k miles max due to the extreem heat air cooled or partially oil/water cooled HD produce.

BTW,i use either spectro 20w-50 semi blend or full syn specifically designed & formulated for HD's or if i was to take a long 4k-5k mile trip like you i'd use the M1 v-twin full syn 20w-50 i mentioned above with a high efficiency filter because it's avail in many stores which spectro though being a top of the line motorcycle oil isnt always readily avail like the M-1 v-twin 20w-50 or 15w-50 nascar approved full syn oils are.

I generally change the oil & filter on my HD @ 3000-4k miles max (on avg 3,500miles) vs HD's rec of 5k miles.

Note,for those that may not be aware std m1 full syn 20w-50 pass car oil isnt a good choice for hot running HDs because it has a significantly lower anti wear agent lvl of approx 900ish ppm zddp (+ - ) or so by design simply cant protect our hot running hd's as well in times of excessive heat which many hd's see plenty of during their lifetime so dont use it in your HD because it's not best choice by design & wrong choice for a lrg HD v-twin.

Afterthought,i'd also change prim case and trans oil before the trip too and then change the prim case and motor oil & filter after you get home from the trip with 4k-5k miles on those oils .

I change trans oil @ 10k miles (vs hd rec of 20k miles) or 1x yrly (whichever comes 1st) & change prim case oil at 5k miles max vs HD's rec of 10k miles.

I change all the oil more often in all 3 holes on my hd then HD rec's for a good reason,always having cleaner oil with considerably less dirt & metallic contamination it will because clean oil will always better protect all those components,period,end of story.

I backed off/reduced the oil change frequency on my HD the 1st time i saw how filthy dirty the motor oil & prim oil's looked at HD's rec change of 5k & 10k miles resp which being changed now at 3k-4k & 5k resp always looks a heck of a lot cleaner with a lot less contamination/dirt seen in the oil.

With that said running a quality syn bike oil & high efficiency oil filter 4k-5k miles on 1 trip wont hurt a thing.

As for the trans,since HD has had so many issue with bearing failure in 6spd trans that why i decided to to change trans oil at 10k miles or 1yr because it only take 1qt & is fast/simple to do and again,that oil looks much cleaner at 10k miles or 1yr vs hd's 20k mile rec where the oil which it comes out burnt looking and smelling same as the prim case oil looked @ hd's rec 10k mile change coming out filthy smelling burnt from being exposed to extreme heat for too many miles & too much time.

It's not rocket science by no means,it's just common sense that ensuring there is always cleaner fresher oil in all 3 holes in our HD's (significantly reducing wear) will better protect our expensive bikes we love to ride and worked hard to pay for that we also put a lot of our time & money in making them our own to suit our taste and riding style too.

Scott

 

Very well done write up, Sir.