[beast]

Will be doing my first oil change at home. Should I use reg. oil or switch to syn. type oil. What would be the benefits?

[hotroadking]

Beast

Good question, IMHO you have two options.

1) Remain Dyno oil and spend less, get good protection just make sure you change on the correct intervals of 5K as HD says.

2) Switch to Syn oil for V-twins or Mobil 1 15W-50 automotive synthetic will work perfectly in your bikes motor. This will lower operating temps, clean up the internals and you'll probably end up with a quieter running motor. It will help with long term engine life as well.

On older bikes switching to syn may cause some seeping at base gaskets just FYI as dyno oil tends to sludge up a bit over time and not clean as well for the full oil cycle, whereas syn will keep cleaning longer as its properties remain constant over the cycle between changes. The dyno oil keeps the leaking spot plugged so you could still have a leak area it's just filled up.

Thats why syn does better at lubrication. If you find this , it's because the syn cleaned out the area where sludge had built up and blocked a leak syn won't cause a leak (rumor)

However if your bike is in good condition you shouldn't find any "leaks"

One other thing, change the tranny oil to Amsoil synthetic gear oil or Redline Heavy Shockproof gear oil, it will make a big difference in the evo trans shifting.

[Seahag]

I use Mobil 1 15w-50 automotive also. But I've heard that you cannot use it in the primary...is this true HRK? If you are not running an oil cooler I highly recommend the syn oil. If you get stuck on a hot August day, in a traffic jam, You'll want the peace of mind knowing your oil base stock is not cooking off and breaking down. Its been a long time since I saw the speck #'s but I believe conventional oil breaks down around 300 degrees and synthetic holds on up to about 480 degrees. With normal operating temps on a HD running in the 230-250 range...I just wouldn't want to get stuck idling long. JMHO

I've also been using Amsoil and Mobil 1 75w-90 gear lube for the tranny...it works as HRK says.

[hotroadking]

I don't know that you can't run syn in the primary, hd has the syn3 for it, however mobil1 automotives new blend is not supposed to be used in wet clutch applications.

Redline MTL is a good lubricant for the Primary if you want syn, I run hd's normal primary oil, I've run the syn3 but saw and felt no difference.