My bike has hit 5000 miles (not too shabby, I think; I've managed to put on 5000 between mid Sept. and mid March - Hooray for Summer). I've decided to do the routine maintenance myself, even if it means picking up some special tools. I'm a pretty good "shade tree" and after looking at the ticket for the 1000 mile service, I can't stand paying those prices again.

I bought the HD shop manual based upon the recommendation of several forum members, and it's quite an improvement over the owner's manual, which is pretty sad. Well, maybe real sad. The shop manual is another matter, however, and I believe it's money well spent. I have three questions that maybe someone can fill me in about.

1) I noticed the delection spec for the drive belt on the "R" is a little greater than for the "C" (mine is a 1200C). Is this because the R has the longer shocks and the suspension travel is more, and the belt needs to be a little looser to account for the longer travel, or is it for some other reason? This may be important to me since I've put the R shocks on my C. Should I now consider that my bike should use the deflection spec for the R, and adjust the belt accordingly?

2) When changing the fluid in the chain case/tranny, is the "quad ring" behind the clutch cover something that routinely gets messed up, and therefore I should have a new one on hand and be ready to replace it, or by being careful is there a low risk of damaging the ring? (I guess a new ring on hand would be a safe bet, but I hate to buy something that is low risk of damage)

3) This probably sounds dumb, but is there a way to refill the chaincase/tranny without taking off the cover?. I'm not used to draining by removing a bolt, and then having to go through what's spelled out in the manual to refill. I guess if there was a way the manual would tell, but it never hurts to ask.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

I can't answer your question about belt deflection ,
but the quad ring is just a square cut o'ring and is less
than a dollar so it never hurts to have one around .
as far as refilling the primary you can do it thru
the inspection cover , just use a small funnel
with a hose on it . some guy's only put 28oz
back in , but i found that if you get it hot and
then drain it while leaning on the jiffy stand
32oz brings it to perfect level .

HD had a service trick.... 28ozs in the primary

The extra deflection is indeed due to the longer shocks and if you've fitted longer shocks then go with more deflection...

Ya wanna run the belt more loose than tight anyway.... loose and it throws the stones out...tight they go thru the belt...

When just sitting, the custom is closer to the belt being at the tightest possible, which occurs when the front pulley, swing arm pivot and rear pulley are all inline.

The other roadster and standard have longer rear shocks, so the swingarm angle drops a bit more when sitting, and is farther from being all lined up.

If you put some weight on the rear to get the swing arm pivot to line up with the front and rear pulleys, both deflections should come out the same..

Base the deflection on the shock used.


Murphy's Law, if you don't have the quad-ring the old one will be bad, if you have one, it will be fine. You can then decide to use the new one or save it for later.

You need the derby cover off to see the fluid level. The inspection cover is the best place to add the fluid (with a funnel....). Besides, you need to adjust the clutch anyway, so you should have the cover off to do that

Ed

I appreciate the help, guys. THANKS!

is the "quad ring" behind the clutch cover something that routinely gets messed up, and therefore I should have a new one on hand and be ready to replace it, or by being careful is there a low risk of damaging the ring?

When I did my 5000 mile service, the quad ring became partially dislodged as I removed the clutch inspection cover, so I gently pulled it the rest of the way out and set it aside for later reassembly. When I tried to reinstall it, that dang thing simply would NOT stay put in its groove. I cussed. I wrung my hands. I banged my head repetively against the wall. I tried leaning the bike WAY over. Nothing helped. I finally picked up a new quad ring from the dealer, and the new one (for some reason that escapes me), stayed in place during reassembly.

I would definitely have a new one on hand - it's pretty cheap.

When I did my 5000 mile service, the quad ring became partially dislodged as I removed the clutch inspection cover, so I gently pulled it the rest of the way out and set it aside for later reassembly. When I tried to reinstall it, that dang thing simply would NOT stay put in its groove. I cussed. I wrung my hands. I banged my head repetively against the wall. I tried leaning the bike WAY over. Nothing helped. I finally picked up a new quad ring from the dealer, and the new one (for some reason that escapes me), stayed in place during reassembly.

I would definitely have a new one on hand - it's pretty cheap.

I learned a little trick: You can use a dab of grease to keep the o-ring in place while you put the cover on

I learned a little trick: You can use a dab of grease to keep the o-ring in place while you put the cover on

I thought of that, but then I was concerned that grease might not be compatible with the Syn3 I had in there. On reflection, it probably is compatible, since Syn3 has a "natural" component to it.

The flat o-ring problem is because the ring shrinks during use. plain and simple most o-rings are one time use only.