I bought pretty much all my necessay maintenance fluids and sparkies to tune up the bike all nice an dandy. Also had to buy rocker box gaskets because my front cyl was leaking worse and worse every time I started the motor. That was the first thing I tackled. Took the top two boxes off, and realized that it's the bottom one that is leaking. Since I never took a V-twin apart before, I was a bit apprehensive about pulling the rocker arms out, but I had to do what I had to do. Procedure seemed harder to do in the shop manual than on the actual engine. Also, the shop manual describes the procedure if you're doing a complete teardown , inspection and rebuild; so you can skip a few steps like pulling the pushrod covers and actually checking pushrod length. You do have to make sure you put the pushrods back in exactly the way they came out. Turns out the HD stealer gave me the wrong gasket kit, he gave me a kit for a 1340 evo. The bottom rocker gasket fit, it is interchangeable with the XL motor, but the mid and upper covers are different. The bottom gasket I used was a steel gasket, much stronger and will probably never blow out like the paper gasket with silicone bead that was in there. I spoke to the parts guy and he said no-prob, we'll swap out what I need with what I got.

Then I figured that since I was in tear-down mode, I'll open the carb foat bowl and change the intermediate jet to a .0265 down from a .280. I felt that it was bogging a bit on initial take off and part throttle. It didn't really take off until about 3000rpm or so. That went relatively painlessly.

Next I decided to change the fork oil. The manual says "remove the fork tube cap, remove the drain screw, drain the oil, replace the drain screw, fill with new oil and replace the fork tube cap". What they failed to mention is that when you remove the tube cap, the fork spring pops out, the tube cap goes flying, tries to hit you in the teeth, and hides from you under the car. Then when you go to replace it after filling the tube with new oil, you have to fight to compress the spring while trying to catch the threads of the tube cap. That minor maintenance project basically drained all my will and energy to continue. I'll change the motor and primary oils next weekend...

It was funny to see the bike in pieces in the driveway after 15 minutes of removing stuff: gas tank, ign coil, wires, horn, rocker covers...

aaaaaaaaaah yes , the 15 foot spring in the 3 foot tube , kinda reminds ya of the peanutbrittle can with the spring snake
first time I ever removed the top cap I didn't have the front wheel off the ground sproiiiiing !!! yep it hit the basement ceiling then landed on my new leather jacket :eek:

glad your having fun with your new bike , update us with any more adventures you have (the funnier the better ;) )

Lets see... That's Fix rocker box leak, rejet carb, change fork oil. I usually make a day job out of any one of those. But I guess I just like to hang out in my garage and drink beer. Sure feels good to work on your own bike don't it.

Ah yes the 15 foot spring in a three foot can trick. I just made a copy of the $100+ Torkin fork spring compressor for less than $15. I emailed Bert over the weekend about uploading photos, etc., but he's been too busy with the new server to get back about it. Also made a functional equivalent of the Progressive Pro Fork Oil Leveler ($34) for $2.

Kim

my fork spring compressor came free with my birth , but now with this torn rotator cuff I just might need to find some help with that task

man this sucks , can't sit in a chair for long , can't drive a car for long , but at least it don't hurt when riding the bike , that would realy suck (big time)

I remembered to take the weight off of the front end...replacing the cap was the bitch. I didn't have a socket to fit the cap so I used a wrench. I used a palm ratchet with a 3/4 deep well on it and put the cap from the fork oil bottle over the end of the socket to keep from scratching the cap too bad. I got my skinny 145 lb ass way up over the tank and used every lb of leverage I could to maintain enough pressure to get the threads started. WIPED ME OUT! :eek:

Yeah, I used a 1-3/8" box end wrench to tke off and put the cap on. The next morning, my back legs and sides were sore.

For the other folks that have not yet tackled this job:
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REPLACING FRONT FORK SPRINGS / FORK OIL ON 04-05 SPORTSTERS

Read the instructions included with your Progressive front fork spring kit !

To empty the forks: Remove the small drain screws near the bottom of each fork. When you remove these, a small amount of fork oil will squirt out. Have rags on the ground to catch all the oil.

Pump the front end of the bike up and down many times (full stroke) to remove the remaining oil. The majority of the oil will be removed when pumping the forks. When all oil is removed, re-install the drain screws. Clean all oil from the front brake disks, calipers, wheels and the floor.

Jack the bike up so there's no weight on the front wheel and forks.

Put a large thick towel over the fuel tank and remove the handlebars (with everything still attached) and set them carefully on the tank. This gets them out of the way for removing the fork caps.

Using a 1 3/8” socket, remove the fork caps … Be careful, as these caps are under slight pressure from the fork springs. A piece of electrical tape can be placed around the end caps to prevent scratching during removal and installation.

Once the fork caps are removed, remove the springs and pour in approx. 9oz of new fork oil per fork. Recommend Bel-Ray 15wt.

The correct oil level can be insured by now fully lowering the bike so the forks completely collapse (no wieght on the bike lift). With the springs still removed, measure the distance from the top of the fork tube down to the top of the oil level in the fork. This distance should be no less than 5 1/2”. I set mine down to the 6" level. (I had to add another 1oz of oil to get the oil level to 6")

Raise the bike again so the front wheel is off the ground. Slide the new fork springs back in. The end of the springs will need to extend approx. 3/4” out of the fork tubes for preload. If the springs do not extend out of the fork tubes the required 3/4”, a piece of PVC plastic tubing (spacer) will need to be cut and placed above the springs so as the spacer sticks out of the folk tube the required 3/4" distance. This PVC tubing should be included in the Progressive spring kit. If any PVC tubing is used as a spacer, then a large washer will be need to be placed on top of the spring (between the spring and the PCV tubing) on each fork. These washers should also be included in the kit.

Note: Be advised that since the fork cap will screw 3/4" into the fork, this will actually give a total of 1 1/2" spring preload with the spacer sticking out of the fork 3/4" prior to fork cap install. (my bike required a 3" PVC spacer)

Re-install the fork caps and handlebars.
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Note: The required 1 3/8” socket is [not] available for your 1/2” drive ratchet .... So:

Autozone “Great Neck”
P/N S0138
1 3/8” socket - 3/4” drive
$8.99

Autozone “Great Neck”
P/N AD75
3/4” drive to 1/2” drive adapter
$2.99
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Progressive Fork Springs for 04-05 Sportster:

P/N: 11-1527
Alternate P/N: 11-1523 or P/N 11-1130

Have Fun, :cheers
Ron