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There have been discussions about ATF not being lubricant enough for a primary, and not getting into all the areas, causing rust. Since I had mine open and disassembled, thought I'd show some pictures of just how wet and lubricated everything in there is with some years of ATF (Dexron) in it. In no particular order:
Why would you need friction additives in ATF? Automatic transmissions have gears, clutches, clutch plates... the clutch plates in an automatic function similarly as our do. I replaced clutch in my Sportster, and Energy One recommended Type F ATF. Apparently the Type F has some different additives than dextron....but.... It took a bit of prying to find out why Energy One recommended Type F, over Syn3, but they finally said the Syn 3 is extremely slippery and they had some issues (not a lot, but enough) with customers using Syn3 they recommended not to use this. I can see adding friction modifiers to Syn3, but not to ATF.
My understanding is that all the compensator oiling issues are with the newer style compensators that the MoCo "improved" in the '06 dynas and then across the entire line in '07... These newer compensators had a lot of issues within the first few years, and more than average issues until the latest updated version in the '14 Rushmore bikes... The oil not getting to the ramps, the splines, etc., was an issue with these comps... that's why the MoCo included an oil diverting scoop/shoe/ramp in the '14+ bikes' outer primaries, and a glue on piece for retro fitting the '14+ comp to the older year twin cams..
If you have an '04 Road King, you'll have one the older, good compensators that never had any oiling issues...... There was never a problem using ATF in a primary prior to the '06/'07 comp upgrade... The clutch pak design/composition dictated which fluid worked best. Oiling the comp wasn't a consideration...
Last edited by hattitude; Mar 3, 2020 at 07:54 PM.
Why would you need friction additives in ATF? Automatic transmissions have gears, clutches, clutch plates... the clutch plates in an automatic function similarly as our do. I replaced clutch in my Sportster, and Energy One recommended Type F ATF. Apparently the Type F has some different additives than dextron....but.... It took a bit of prying to find out why Energy One recommended Type F, over Syn3, but they finally said the Syn 3 is extremely slippery and they had some issues (not a lot, but enough) with customers using Syn3 they recommended not to use this. I can see adding friction modifiers to Syn3, but not to ATF.
I've been running Mobil 1 syn ATF with 4 ounces of Lubeguard highly friction modified ATF supplement practically since my '15 Limited was new. Absolutely the best mix I've tried, and I've tried a lot.
Quite a few have tried it on my recommendation.... all seem to like it. Quieter, smoother shifts, way less 1st gear KLANK.
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Primary "oiliness" with ATF
