Dear Gurus,

I stopped for fuel in Mittagong yesterday and after I filled up I noticed a small patch of oil on the ground under where the clutch is. "Must have been a previous vehicle" said I hopefully. Then, while I was watching, a drip fell from the bike onto the same spot. Shit.

Looking under the scoot (an 07 Road King Classic), I see that the oil seems to be weeping from the inner side of the primary cover, just behind the front belt sprocket (i.e. between the sprocket and the cover). Sounds like a seal.

Now I look at my garage floor, I notice that there's a bit of an oil stain which I've never noticed before because I don't get on the bike from that side.

I have a few questions:

a) there's one-and-a-bit litres of oil in there. Should I wait until it gets worse before doing anything? It's not dripping fast....

 

b) Assuming a) is a no-go, I've looked at the manual, and it seems I have to remove the primary cover, incl the clutch, etc. so...

1) I can do this with the engine in the bike, right?

2) I shouldn't have to disassemble the whole clutch, just take it off, right?

3) I can probably make my own Primary Drive Locking Tool HD-48219 out of a piece of flat bar (if someone on this forum were kind enough to give me the dimensions), right?

4) I shouldn't need to take off the rear wheel, right?

5) I don't need any special tools to remove the seal, just lever it out, right?

6) while I'm there, I shouldn't have to do anything else because the bike's done only 18,000K, right?

7) The gaskets are usually readily available from, say, Frasers, right?

8) This should only take an hour or so, right?............ Right????

 

Thanks in advance.

Gonzo

Thanks, Scotty.

I've actually got the service manual, but I wouldn't have thought to look in section 7 for the seal installation.

Questions about the oil seals:
- I don't need to remove the shifter shaft (where it goes into the gearbox). Why replace the seal?
- how does the seal on the mainshaft fit itself into the primary chaincase inner? If I read the instructions correctly, you put the seal on the shaft, then attach the casing to the engine. Does the seal squash itself into the right place?

Ando, the bike's 2 years and 2 months old. Bastard, eh?

Gonzo.

Scotty,

we are talking about seal part 17 on figure 6-29 aren't we?

Gonzo

Thanks, Scotty.

The front sprocket is sandwiched between two walls - the tranny case and the primary case. I'm guessing it's the primary seal, because the oil is coming down the wall of the primary case. The wall of the tranny case is dry. Makes sense???

I'll do the shifter seal anyway, as you suggest.

Why the silicone? Does it keep the dirt out or something?

PS. what are you doing up at 6:37 on a Sunday??? Is that Adelaide time or Sydney time?

Gonzo

OK, I've ordered all the bits, incl the bolts they say to replace (seal bolts on crankcase, and bolt on crankshaft compensator). Got the sockets and the Loctite.

I've even cleaned a spot on the bench.

Should be ready to start on Saturday.

Silicone - do you have to keep it off the shifter shaft?

Thanks for the assistance.

Gonzo.

Hey, Scotty,

There I was in bed at about 3am this morning thinking about pulling the primary case apart (what else would you do?), and I suddenly realised what you were talking about. There must be (and there are) THREE seals on the mainshaft (I thought there were only two), one where the drive comes out the primary case from the clutch, one where the drive to the front belt sprocket comes out of the tranny case and, ..... TADAAA, one where the drive from the clutch goes back into the tranny (up the centre of the mainshaft). Yes, the leak could be coming from either the first or the last abovementioned seals.

I bought the small seal today (2 of them, just in case).

I'll post some photos when I've got it apart.

Gonzo.

Ok, need some more help...

 

I've got the primary case off.

Here is the mainshaft:

As noted in the photo, the area around the seal on the end of the mainshaft is dry. I'm assuming therefore that the small seal doesn't need replacing (removing the shaft extension looks difficult without the proper tool).

 

The inner primary seal looks like this:

Which seems to indicate that it's this seal which is leaking. The seal itself was oily when I pulled it apart, but I've cleaned it since then.

 

Opinions, please....

Gonzo

A lot of the screws I removed were corroded a bit, making them difficult to remove. Particularly the 13 primary cover screws. I'd normally oil the threads on reassembly. Any reason why I shouldn't?

G

Success!!!!

The bike's back together, it runs, it doesn't make any bad noises, and there's not a puddle of oil on the garage floor.

I haven't taken it for a spin yet - that'll be the real test to see if it leaks.

Thank you all for your help, particularly Scotty.

SOME FEEDBACK:

The tool for locking the primary drive doesn't work well as shown in the diagram. I cut off the 2" long tab because it didn't allow sufficient engagement of the sprocket teeth on the 1/2" wide cut-out. The final tool was a rectangle 1.5" wide by 5.5" long with rounded ends.

The crankshaft bolt needed 160ft-lbs. I've never put 160 ft-lbs on anything before. My torque wrench went to 150, so I gave it that, plus a bit. Scary.

NOWHERE does it say you need REALLY long ball-end hex keys. The starter motor bolts would have been impossible to remove without them. I ended up buying a set of right-angle ones, cutting off the right-angles, and using them in a socket drive.

Removing the shifter shaft seal with a self-tapper was a problem. I managed to scratch the shaft with the threads of the self tapper. I polished the shaft up a bit and put in lots of silicone. Hope it works...

Gonzo.

Well done gonzo, I take my hat off to you for giving it a go, as usual Scotty is a Treasure Trove of knowledge and experience. I would have had a go at the dealer though first, 2 years and 2 months! that sucks!!!

Well, I think it's fixed.

Took the scoot for a 3-1/2 hour run today. No leaks.

Thanks all.

Gonzo.