Done: 1000 mile service

[Old Road Dog]

The 1k service was included in the deal but I wanted to do it myself-Im weird that way. The parts guy laid the oils and filter on me and I went at it this morning. Syn 3 in the motor and Formula + in the tranny and primary.Im not gonna get into a pissin contest with you over oil so if you prefer something else-go in peace.

Took about 5 hours from start to finish.Thats with phone calls,UPS guy and my silly little dog gettin in fights with some of the 83 trespassing cats owned by the lady up the hill. The most shocking was the drain plug magnet from the motor.Clean as if it were just installed at the factory.Never seen that before.Called Dave the lead tech at my dealer and he said with the M8 he's seeing them like mine and some real bad.I followed the break in procedure per the book so maybe that's it.Who knows-could be the alignment of the stars or the effect of the moon.The tranny plug had a light coating of silver paste. And the primary plug as expected was coated up pretty well.

No splinters or chunks-bad Mojo.Starting at the front forks and working my way back I torqued every fastener I could get to.All grounds and terminals got a shot of CRC red battery post spray.Now we come to the drive belt.I thought the belt was a little too tight as delivered so I adjusted it and turned the wheels and took 3 reading with my motion pro belt gauge.

Adjusting belt tension is more involved but the steps are in the trike manual.I made copies of the service checklist and initialed by each one as I did it.A ten mile test ride and now shes good to go.Tomarrow Ill bring her to the dealer so they can hook up to Digital Technician for any updates. Oh you don't care?Never mind then.

 

[MDO]

Glad to hear you got it done yourself. I let my dealer where I purchased mine do it cause I was out of state.

I have a question regarding your engine oil level. My FW, at the 1,000 service, was almost 1 quart low. My purchase dealer said in his M8 experience at the initial service, it was pretty common. Was yours low? Since then, I'm not using/burning any engine oil. I followed the factory break-in recommendations also, so your not alone.

More ?'s concerning Formula+. It may be to too soon, but have you noticed any difference in shifting?

Also on the belt, when you initially checked it with the tension gauge, did it indicate it was too tight?

1 more, did they give you a seal kit with the 3 plug O-rings & new derby cover seal?

 

[Old Road Dog]

I found during break in, my M8 used about a quart of oil.Like my TC, I keep the M8 a half quart low.Old habit to keep it from puking out the breather.Maybe not needed with M8?Anyway the M8 has a larger oil capacity than my TC.As for Formula +, Ive always used it.Ive never seen the need for the additives package in motor oils used in the tranny and primary.F+ is about as basic a lubricant you can get.In other words it does no harm.But the arguments rage on every forum.Over on the XL forum so of the concoctions those cats use make me shake my head.As far as shifting in the six speed-never had a problem with F+.The drive belt had about 1/4" deflection as delivered.I think it's two tight.Manual says 3/8.Dave told me to run it tight as he's seen loose belts eat pulley cogs-yikes!

 

[Old Road Dog]

Glad to hear you got it done yourself. I let my dealer where I purchased mine do it cause I was out of state.

I have a question regarding your engine oil level. My FW, at the 1,000 service, was almost 1 quart low. My purchase dealer said in

1 more, did they give you a seal kit with the 3 plug O-rings & new derby cover seal?

Yep, but I just reused the old ones as they were in good shape.

 

[Old Road Dog]

Oh, one more thing: always,always use Teflon pipe sealant tape on those three plugs.That little o-ring by itself don't cut it.

 

[MDO]

I re-used my derby cover seals, it looked fine. I went to Home Depot & bought a 10 pack of O-rings.

Teflon tape is fine, if used properly. Thread compound is probably better.

Did you get the filter off without a mess? I broke down and bought 1 of the orange funnel things for the M8. It works.

 

[Old Road Dog]

My dealer was out of stock on the M8 drain funnels.Resupply next week.I used the drain funnel for the Twin Cam. Lots of paper towels underneath.I like to punch a hole in the filter first and let it drain.By the time the 5000 mile service arrives I'll have one of DK's remote filters.

 

[MDO]

As far as the oil level, I have mine set to the middle of the dots/marks on the dipstick when cold, so when hot, it's at the top full mark. I'm not getting any oil out the breather, so all is well.

 

[Old Road Dog]

Yeah-I think people don't get how critical it is to get that dip stick reading right.HD's breather system is unforgiving of overfill.I found that my Harbor Freight (yellow) is just about useless for changing oil on the trike-its just in the way.So I ran the trike up on car ramps-plenty of room.

 

[MDO]

I use this oil extractor. I wish I had got 1 years ago.

Here's a link to the thread where I discuss it.:

https://www.triketalk.com/forum/threads/46769-I-Have-Been-Using-This-For-2-Months-amp-Like-It!