Would you be against the idea of a shared sump for a Harley? Or do you prefer the current setup of three of a engine, trans and primary with a chain?

 

Works fine the way it is. Have a bearing or gear failure in the transmission or a clutch component would also contaminate the engine oil supply and might cause additional damages to the engine as well. More damage = More Cost to Repair.

 

That's a good point. But there has been many manufactures who use this configuration with great success

 

Archaic, but this allows each case; motor, primary drive, tranny to get specialized lubes for the different materials and needs.


for example, did you know that the twin cam has jets which spray oil on the undersides of the pistons?

Do you really want friction material from the clutch introduced to that, or into the bearings?
or the hardened surfaces of the cams, cam drive, lifters etc etc?


the "import" design philosophy has been assembly replacement- not repair of components.
a 'design life" for the entire assembly such as the motor is established and the motor is built to achieve that goal.
when something goes- the whole motor is replaced.

( for example of my wife's 1986 Nissan when the clutch went. the shop manual describes how to remove the entire motor and tranny as an assembly. and how to install replacement assembly....
I was able to loosen the mounts and drive and separate the motor and tranny in the car...remove clutch and flywheels.
get flywheel rersurfaced and starter ring gear replaced...and get a new clutch into it)

even the choice of fasteners and threads is made so that you get a couple of shots at removing the heads...then the stretch in the threads into aluminum becomes useless.

good/bad one way or the other is a judgement call.

no doubt that many imports give good life- but when they are done, they are done.
where as a 'traditional' design/built/material may allow for almost unlimited service life with replacement of specific parts as the wear or fail.
This is why there are pans, shovels and knucks still running....really when is the last time you saw a 40 year old Asian import on the road.
just TRY to get carb rebuild kits for early 70's keihin carbs


this topic was of great discussion the first week of auto trades class, with the instructor displaying various parts from different machines.


i will point out that each of my multiple hole machines ( HD, TRi, Norton, BMW) has far exceeded the single hole bikes My ct90 and the kawi 900


so for me, I like 3 holes!

mike

 

I like the 3 hole design, for all the reasons mk states. I am not a great fan of the bic design. use it until it don't lite then throw all the other stuff away instead of replaceing what went wrong.
kroozeabout.

 

I seriously doubt if the single sump had any issues it would have shown up on the tens of thousands of VTX's Honda sold. I for one have had 3 bikes with single sump and not a single issue with any of them. So is 3 holes better than one? Doubtful, when you can only use one at a time anyway. Are the Jap bikes throw away, probably, but after 100,000 miles who cares, I'm ready for a new bike anyway.

 

I haven't had a major failure on any of my HD's over the years either but if I did I would only have to fix the failed area rather then possible contamination of all the components?. I personally prefer the 3 hole design.