| Author | Message | ||
     Raceautobody  |
I just did my first service on my X1 myself. I used mobile 15w-50 in the motor and mobile 75-90 in the primary. Unbelievable, If anyone out there is still using sport trans fluid, get it out. My bike shifts so much smoother now. Night and day differance. This board is invaluable. I would have not installed mobil 75-90 if it wasn't recomended here. Thanks. Al | ||
| Medic |
I agree, Al. I started using Mobil 1 gear oil in the primary in August, and my X1 shifts "like buttah..." Another Al | ||
| Hodakaguy |
Is the 75-90w synthetic? What weight is the sport trans fluid? Thanks, Hodakaguy | ||
| Cbig |
Odd... A while back my dad was using my M2 for an extended time..He filled the primary with 75-90 gear lube. It foamed up something fierce! Puked all over the fender, tire. I at first thought the main seal was blown. Switched back to Harley all was well. Maybe synthetic is better? | ||
| Raceautobody |
The primary looks like you can easily overfilled. Searching the KV I found many posts about overfilling. Cbig, maybe yours was overfilled. The mobil 1 gear oil I found is synthetic. 75w-90. Also my bike used 29oz. to get full as illistrated in the service man. not 1qt. as stated. Some fluid must end up remaining in the primary. Al | ||
| Djkaplan  |
I use the 15w-50 and 75w-90 Mobil combo as well. Oddly, my transmission doesn't feel any different with the Mobil gear oil - it still shifts like crap. | ||
| Bluzm2  |
Dan, Just think how crappy it would be without the synth!  | ||
| Tramp  |
i've been running mine with regular ol' organic sport trans (actually the spectro version), and it's been fine for well over 200,000 miles. why would i switch? plus, your clutch is bathed in the stuff, and you want some friction there. oh, yeah- don't use hypoid gear lube (or let your dad-see a few posts above) in thar. hypoid lacks the tension and tenacity that our gearboxes require. just like ya can't run an engine on gear oil for long. | ||
| Tramp |
i had a customer who insisted his 1200 sporty needed synth to smooth up his shifting. i offered him some new synthetic (free, for testing)i'd picked up a case of, gratis, from my lube guy. when the customer got back on his sporty and took it around the block, he was raving and drooling (nod to pf) about the smoothness and precision of his shifting. he was kinda confused when i showed him the empty spectro dino sport-trans bottle... | ||
| Bomber  |
the halo effect is not dead! | ||
| Brucelee |
"I use the 15w-50 and 75w-90 Mobil combo as well. Oddly, my transmission doesn't feel any different with the Mobil gear oil - it still shifts like crap." That is weird! Mine just keeps getting better and better with the Mobil One in the tranny. | ||
| Mbsween  |
I switched to Mobil1 75-90 and it was somewhat better, but not a night and day difference. I didn't switch till 15,000 miles or so. I don't know if that makes a difference. I have one of those in line 4 bikes and that shifts was better. I don't have any issues with the Buell shifting, it just ain't all that smooth. The "clunk" when it goes into gear is kinda cool sounding. One of the nice things about the mobil one is that I can get the stuff around the corner or anywhere there's an auto parts store. | ||
| Tramp |
"That is weird! Mine just keeps getting better and better with the Mobil One in the tranny." yeah, brucelee- that's about what my customer said after a few putts around the block with a fresh quart of spectro dino sport trans in his transbath, unbeknownst to him. total placebo effect. needelss to say, he's come to his senses and runs regular HD sport-trans in his primary and pays less attention to internet banter and more to his riding.... like i said, i've got over 213,000 miles on my trans and primary, and i've only ever used ol' timey ssssport trans/spectro sport trans organic lube in thar.. | ||
| Tramp |
maybe youze guys who have transmissions that just get 'better and better ' with synthetic use might consider that a 'control bike', identical to yours and with the same use, but with organic lube in it might keep running 'better and better' as well jesssssssss a thought, thar, fellers... | ||
| Tramp |
"Dan, Just think how crappy it would be without the synth" now, consider that if dan were running organic, ya'd probably be telling him it'd run much better with synth. fact is, it'd likely run the same either way, except for the clutch, which could theoretically slip more with synth down in thar.. | ||
| Djkaplan |
Well, my clutch isn't slipping, yet. I can honestly report that the synth gear oil had no noticeable effect at all on shifting action or clutch function. To tell you the truth, I'd be just as happy using the Harley gear oil, but it's just too hard to get compared to the Mobil. I will say that in my GMC truck, I've logged over 300,000 miles on regular old Castrol GTX. The 350 small-block still doesn't burn an excessive amount of oil and gets the same oil-pressure as it did when it was new. The engine has never had the valve covers off. | ||
| Reepicheep  |
I saw a HUGE difference on my Cyclone going to Mobil 1 Gear oil. I did not see much difference at all on my XB doing the same thing. In all fairness, there was a possibility during the time of the change that the Cyclone 5th gear drive assembly was no longer operating as a needle bearing, but was rather at that point siezed and acting as a plain bearing. No way to know for sure. | ||
| Raceautobody |
Tramp, Interesting story about a customer of yours. I own my shop, I am in business to repair collision damage. I don't kidd myself thinking I know near enough to call myself a mechanic. But I have 15 years of body work experience and 5 of those years owning and running my own shop. I would never trick a customer of mine. It looks like you feel very strongly about this topic. If you could not convince your customer to have his bike serviced the way you feel is correct you should have sent him on his way, other then making him feel like a fool, just to prove a point. Most people would have never let you touch their bike again. You must know what you are doing with having over 200,000 mi on that cyclone. jesssssssss a thought, thar, fellers... Al | ||
| Rick_a  |
I think that fresh SportTrans works fine...but by the time you get to the service interval it's gone to sh*t. In my experience synthetic lubricants are still working well, well into the time to change it. | ||
| Tramp |
al, the customer, like all my customers, is a dear friend, and he has a narrrrsty habit of sitting around my work area coming up with new ideas, as do many of my customer buddies. he was crowing about the virtues of synthetic in the primary and insisted, while i was doing fluids, that i replace that stuff with synth. sssoooooooooooooooooo, while i sent him out for some fish & chips, i put the usual spectro in thar. he would not shut up about the difference, and the other 5 of us were pretty much on the flooor when we told him. he laughed embarrasedly and called me an aashole, and told me he peed in my lemonade. he was thankful for my firsthand example of the placebo effect. as to synth lasting past normal servixce intervals, please remember that the idea is to replace your fluid, regardless of composition, as there is a lot of residual metal sparkling around in that stuff. letting your fluid go past interval is not too bright regardless of what's in thar'. and my bike is an S2 T-bolt, incidentally. | ||
| Blake  |
When I got my Cyclone back from NRHS after having a performance top-end, cams, starter and some other minor work done, I noticed a MAJOR improvement to the shifting. I also noticed that even after sitting overnight, I could pull in the clutch with the bike in 1st gear and it would push easily with no initial resistance/stiction (viscous action of cold tranny lube between clutch plates) like I was used to. I had always run sport trans as I was ignorant of what grade/specification it was. The difference was truly amazing, it was like a whole new transmission. Way better than before. I called NRHS and asked Brian what they had done to the tranny to make it shift so much better. He said "nothing, just replaced the oil." "What oil" I asked. "Royal Purple 75W90 transmission lube" he said. Next oil change I put in the OEM Sport Trans lube again. The tranny then reverted to its old stubborn self. I haven't used OEM Sport Trans since. Still have a quart on the shelf, anyone want it? Synthetics rule! | ||
| Tramp |
i may just have to try me some o' that royal purple..... | ||
| Cbig |
It is encouraging to know these bikes will do 100k + Tramp... Mine's over 40k now and I was thinking about trading to a xb12 something...avoid all the repair hassles but I honestly like the comfort and simplicity of the M2. Encouraging.. I keep on using the old stuff too. | ||
| Tramp |
i'd keep the M2 if i were you, such a simple machine. and, honestly, i've really thrashed my S2 for most of that mileage, i'm just really anal about warmup and fluid changes. funny thing- the factory belt lasted me until around 203,000 miles. whooodathunkit | ||
| Raceautobody |
Tramp, Sorry about the cyclone comment. Would you wash that thang. Al | ||
| Cbig |
Awww c'mon now Tramp! I was almost starting to buy the 200k+ bike (I have seen some 100k bikes) but not the belt too! You had me going there for a while!  | ||
| Tramp |
sorry, but a fact's a fact! guess it pays to keep about 5" of slop in that bad boy. as to washing the bike, well....that's what rain is for. plus road salt gives 'er a nice scrub-down.... | ||
| Lornce  |
Heya Tramp, I'm impressed and intrigued by your bike's mileage figures. What's the rundown on engine maintenance over those 200+K miles? Pistons, bores: 1st, 2nd over? How about valve jobs? How far do stock exhaust guides go? Is your bottom end original: Big ends/rods, mains? etc. I'm relatively new to Buells (2.5 years) and HD motors and curious about the longevity of this stuff. tia, Lornce | ||
| Tramp |
oh boy- here it comes (tramp braces) no major service (!!) original rings, man! | ||
| Lornce |
Oh. So.... errrmn, how's she run?  | ||
| Tramp |
implausible though it might sound, she runs well. leaks like crazy, but runs well. have gone through steering head bearings and isolators, etc., but the mill she runs well | ||
| Orngm2 |
hey dudes, i use the amsoil 20w50 synthetic in the oil tank AND the primary... this is what they reccommend. no problems and less metal out of the drain when i change the oil. shifts like a dream. fire away!!! | ||
| Tramp |
hey- if it works for you, cool! bottom line: neither organic nor synthetic will hurt your machine, and there is NO replacement for scheduled fluid change. your crankcase lube will collect metal particles and lose Ph as a result of combustion, and frequent changing is the order of the day. i've always espoused spending one third as much on organic oil (than synth) and changing it three times more frequently. then my engine is running with less acidity and way fewer particles in thar. i also run a big fat wix oil filter, but that's another story. |
