1999 Sportster 1200 Custom | GTAMotorcycle.com

1999 Sportster 1200 Custom

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Mateo

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Hey everyone,

Hopefully everyone is enjoying the awesome riding whether today.

I do have a question in regards to the sportster I bought a few days ago: Does it have wet or dry clutch? I use clutch a lot when riding so I wanted to make sure whether the clutch was dry or wet.

Thanks fellas

Mateo
 
A Sportster uses a dry sump motor and a wet clutch. The primary and transmission use the same oil supply, while the engine uses its own supply. DO NOT use gear oil in your Sportster tranny/primary. Some gear oils, GL1, GL5, i don't recall which one, use sulfur as an anti wear additive, and it will eat away at yellow metals. Your stator resides in the primary, and is made of copper.

Use a motorcycle 20w50 in the engine, and Formula+ or Syn3 in the primary/transmission.
 
And if you're changing the primary fluid yourself, make sure you use a T27 driver for the torx head bolts. T25 is close but will strip the heads if you try. You can get a small impact driver at Princess Auto that will make removing the T27 head bolts easier.
 
watch the air cleaner bolts as well....If overtightened they strip nut in backer plate $45 for the black plastic and about 1.5hrs to cut it off, if too loose you get the privilege of riding with your knee holding cover on! The bolts are $5 a piece ...

just found a rectangular brass nut I have never seen before....... by my starter...

Careful when removing battery for winter, the cables have no play, really easy to break positive cable from starter..... $21 at stealership...
oh yeah, chasis is imperial while electrical is metric!!! 10mm for battery....

terfed
 
For ~$20 each, get new battery cables and replace them. The ground cable on my '99 broke internal to the insulation due to vibration. I figured that replacing them every few years is a cheap insurance to getting stuck somewhere...
 
chief ten bears said:
A Sportster uses a dry sump motor and a wet clutch. The primary and transmission use the same oil supply, while the engine uses its own supply. DO NOT use gear oil in your Sportster tranny/primary. Some gear oils, GL1, GL5, i don't recall which one, use sulfur as an anti wear additive, and it will eat away at yellow metals. Your stator resides in the primary, and is made of copper.

Use a motorcycle 20w50 in the engine, and Formula+ or Syn3 in the primary/transmission.
Click to expand...
You can get gear oil that is both yellow metal and wet clutch safe. My bike specifically calls for 75W90 gear oil for the transmission. Actually, most automotive manual transmissions have the same soft metals and still call for gear oil.

GL4 is what you want to be yellow metal safe. Looks for one that also says it's formulated for cold shifting, too, if you're not racing all the time. GL5 is not safe on yellow metals. A GL4/5 SHOULD be safe but I've read some things saying some of them aren't.
 
unL33T said:
You can get gear oil that is both yellow metal and wet clutch safe. My bike specifically calls for 75W90 gear oil for the transmission. Actually, most automotive manual transmissions have the same soft metals and still call for gear oil.

GL4 is what you want to be yellow metal safe. Looks for one that also says it's formulated for cold shifting, too, if you're not racing all the time. GL5 is not safe on yellow metals. A GL4/5 SHOULD be safe but I've read some things saying some of them aren't.
Click to expand...


SHOULD? Why chance it? Sporsters for years and years called for SportTrans fluid, which was replaced and is now Formula+. I think old iron heads and early evo's may have even called for straight 30 at one time for the primary/trans. You can also run Syn3, or any motorcycle/wet clutch safe 20W50.
 
FLSTC said:
For ~$20 each, get new battery cables and replace them. The ground cable on my '99 broke internal to the insulation due to vibration. I figured that replacing them every few years is a cheap insurance to getting stuck somewhere...
Click to expand...

smart idea, might even go aftermarket longer softer ... I am making them swap all mine out both pos and neg for that very reason....

for shiggles, i should post a pic of the nut see where it might be from... I have not seen one during rummaging around on my bike.... did exhaust, rejetted carb, turned air mixture, oil changes primary and engine..., adjust and set clutch, lubbed cables...(baggie with amsoil 20w50 and rubber band)... new front and rear break pads last year....do not recall this nut type..

terfed

terfed
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