[kpaul]

Good advice

"Second is over tightening the drain bolt" yep this is one of reasons I agree with you on "just for that peace of mind that it was actually done right" I had a punk kid at an oil and lube place do this to my old RX-7 Turbo once. The place paid for it , but the inconvenience was annoying.

 

[kpaul]

Now that is funny. I had a weak moment last night lusting for 749 after I read a review on another channel. However, the list price over $14,000 and the cost of maintenance got me headed back to the Triumph site.



You old farts (longride, seruzawa, Bud) of the GPTB have some good advice. Keep it up

 

[sarnali]

Re: Congratulations kpaul

You finaly made shift manager at Mcdonalds eh? ....Way to go!

 

[sarnali]

Thats Harley-bikers, Triumph riders are drinking tea and breaking the ton between cafe`s

 

[kpaul]

Re: Congratulations kpaul

Don't use the Mc thing, it hits too close to home. (Harry and Phil).

 

[F451]

Great link on the additives. Thanks.

 

[mscuddy]

Re: How not To Change Your Oil

My Harley manual says nothing about oil "changes" per-se, but it does have a little blurb on page 15 how to "add" oil. What a novel idea. Why change, when one can just add? Save a can of 60 wt.

 

[F451]

Costco and tools go together like drinking and motorcycle riding--they don't. Any least purchase some "reputable" tools, even if it is at Sears, not some "poly-want-some-wing-wong" rubbish being passed off as tools at bloody Costco!

 

[F451]

What Next?

First, Yossef home-fixes the camcorder and now he does his own motorcycle maintenance? Is MO paying him enough?

 

[F451]

Re: What Next?

Yossef, Kindly get your arse on a Triumph Rocket III for a road test and report back!

 

[Buzglyd]

Re: How not To Change Your Oil

It's kind of like the old Jaguars. You never had to change the oil because by 3000 miles you would have replaced all of it anyway.

 

[sarnali]

Re: We don' need no stinkin' road test

It's fast, it's cool, it's got tons of torque and it's a Triumph

Go buy one.

 

[Rob-SV650]

Mobil 1 works fine but it's overpriced. I prefer to use Shell Rotella T Synthetic - it's great oil, has no friction modifiers to make wet clutches slip, and.... Wal-Mart sells it for $12.84 a gallon! No adverse effects on shifting either.

If I'm gonna use a petroleum oil I prefer Shell Rotella T, Mobil Delvac or Chevron Delo (about $6/gallon). These are all commercial grade "heavy duty" 15W-40 oils that are perfect for Motorcycle use in bikes that use a *W-40 oil - if yours needs a *W-50 oil (Harleys?) you might need to look elsewhere though.

Another note on synthetics - there are VERY few "true" synthetics on the market any more, most oils labeled synthetic (including the Rotella I use) are really "Group III" oils, which are actually very highly refined petroleum based oils. They perform almost as well as true synthetics but cost the manufacturers half as much to produce (although no one lowered their prices after switching to these formulations, go figure). If it matters to you, the only true synthetic oils I know of any more are Amsoil, and Motul makes a few formulations. I also hear Mobil Delvac 1 is "real", but this is not confirmed.

http://motorcycleinfo.calsci.com/Oils1.html

 

[Lowrez]

My toolkit was a bit more sparse when I started changing my own oil. I had one of those "home handyman" kits. Hammer, screw driver, and an adjustable wrench. I combined that with the bikes mini-toolkit and a catch pan for the oil. Getting off the filter was done by spiking the filter with the screw driver and then taking it off. Messy, but it works on every size filter. Put on the new filter and tight and next time it takes less work to get it off.



Every time I change my oil now I indulge myself with $10 worth of tools. After five years I've got enough where I can change the oil with relative ease.

 

[IceWorm]

What you say is true and yet you left out the important fact that modern motorcycle specific oils contain higher levels of polymers to compensate for the shearing action of transmission gears.

 

[Rob-SV650]

Hmmm. I didn't know my V65 was supposed to have a crush washer until recently. It never leaked a drop from the bolt.



I recently decided to start doing my own oil changes on my Miata and also didn't realize there was a crush washer until I drained the old oil out of the pan. It doesn't leak either.



So......... I wouldn't worry too much about the crush washers - if you have it, then of course use it, but if not just throw the old one back on or skip it altogether. Maybe check the bolt for leaks after a few miles if it makes ya feel better.

 

[tonyharrah]

Rumor has it that the Harley/Ducati dealership (I know) in Missoula has a 749s tagged and priced as a 749. I think that's a savings of a couple grand and you get upscale Showa suspenders. You would just need to get it out of there before they realized their mistake.



-Tony

 

[CRPilot212]

Agreed... you want busted knuckles??? Buy crap tools at Costco, and put them in your kids arts and crafts box right next to the plastic saftey scissors because that's about how tough they are... Sear's Craftsman tools are about the best tools for your money and "if" you ever break a Craftsman tool, you can pop into any Sear's store and get it replaced without any BS. Don't forget to add a decent hex key (Allen wrench) set to your tool set since quite a few pieces are held together by that type of bolt nowadays...

 

[F451]

Re: We don' need no stinkin' road test

I agree on all points made.

 

[seruzawa]

I'll give the RT a try. I'm always ready to save a buck or two. Especially since I've got to replace my recently and catastrophically departed Magna.