I have a kind of dumb question. This is my first harley (06 roadglide) and im changingall of the covers on it, im down to the the derby cover and inpection cover and im not sure what is behind the derby. It calles for a new gasket, so....... im taking it has oil behind it? or is it just there to seal it up to keep out the water ( rain )? Thanks

 

Yes, there is oil behind it. You can lean the bike away from the derby cover and it will keep the fluid from leaking out. The gasket is to keep the oil in, not the water out.

 

if you have the newer style derby cover gasket...the one that is solid and about the same size as the cover then you can reuse it. If you have the older style, a donut type gasket....only the outer edge, then you will need to get a new gasket. Even on the jiffy stand you will only loose a few drops of primary oil when taking off the cover.

 

The derby cover gasket only cost 2 or 3 bucks.

 

I bought a different cover for mine with gasket. Turns out didn't even need the gasket.
And yes there is oil in there.

GT

 

When I pulled my derby cover, after having the wife hold it upright, I popped off the cover and the gasket stayed stuck over the opening, put the new cover on and no issues yet. I had the same question before I did mine, I am new to this stuff also, so I just winged it. Although I did read a lot about it here. Make sure to use a T-27 torx, NOT the T-25. Have read that it may cause you to strip the screw, and that would be a pain to have to notch it to remove and replace the screw.

 

The derby cover is also known as the clutch cover. The oil is used for the primary as it is a wet bath clutch. The gasket is 25416-99C and can be use a few times over as long as you are careful. I pop off the derby whilst the bike is upright on the jack and have no problems.

 

The most common issue I see with Derby covers are that they are over tightened. They do not need to be cranked down. The EVO and earlier derby covers only had three holes. They were very easy to warp. The TC motors have 5, but can still get warped by over tightening.

A drop of blue loctite and snug the screws and you will be much better off than cranking it down.

 

I just had my Derby cover off when installing the new "skull" cover... no problem at all. Just treat the gasket with care and you can re-use it. I had my bike on a stand so it was level/straight up and lost no oil. On the jiffy you may lose a wee bit but probably not much. The screws are just snugged, NOTtorqued down tight.

 

Thanks for the info guys, This is a great site, hope to see some of you on the road. I'll get a pic. posted as soon as the weather gets nice again