Motor Oil Suggestions

[NicoNP]

How about some currently available suggestions for motor oils for '30s & 40's HD's, Knucks, Flats, Pans

[David]

Amsoil has a new oil just for older H-D motors, SAE 60wt.MCS you can look at this oils specs. on their website at www.amsoil.com. It has all the additives your freindly Goverment has forced the oil companys to remove from todays oils and is recomended for use in flatties, Knucks, Pans, and early Shovels. If you would like to run an off the shelf 50 or 60wt. oil you need to add Zink Dialkyl Dithiophosphate to prevent metal to metal contact,( this is one of those nasty enviroment killing chemicals the Gov. hates but your older H-D needs to live !! ) it can be purchused at www.zddplus.com. David

[elt]

safe oil for your old HD

you cant go wrong with AEROSHELL W120 wich is 60 weight.And as far as I know the FAA wil not let them take out the antware additives.I personally would not put amsoil in my old Harleys.It is my belife that the crank rollers tend to slip in sted of roll.This cant make them stay round.My father once put Amsoil in his new Subaru tranny and it got hard to shift.The dealers service department found the problem.The sincronisers got to slick to function.After flushing and reserviceing with regular gear oil things were fine.After over 43 years flying and overhauling aircraft engines when I opened up a Aeroshell run engine and was greated with no sluge and just a light brown stain.Most all your local bulk oil destributers will sell you the oil or you can go to your local general aivation airport.
elt

[D.A.Bagin]

I had oil specially blended for me by a smaller independant oil company that has the proper amounts of ZDDP amongst other neccesary additives. It contains NO detergents that would loosen existing sludge buildup on older motors. If you have a new rebuilt motor there are other options such as aeroshell. It has been run in my four and other bikes I have for the last 2 years with many miles in smiles. It is good for use on bikes with no oil filter that allows the particles to settle rather than be pumped throughout motor. I do have it availible in straight 40 and 50 wt. in 5 gal. containers. PM me if interested.

[Rollo]

This has been discussed here at length before, but I use HD 60 wt in all my old bikes. HD spends millions of dollars test their oils and specifically for use in air cooled motors. They are not going to sell oil that isn't right for this application. One thing you have to watch out for when buying oil is that it is API rate for use in air cooled motors. Just beceause it is a certain weight doesn't mean it is okay for all applications. All oils have the required EPA additives required by law for their applications so ther is no getting around that. It may not be the cheapest, although I bet it's priced competativly, but I have never had any issue with it and I have over 20 bikes and all but 2 are antiques and used it for over 30 years with no issues. They usually have plenty of it in stock at my HD dealer so getting it is no problem and I buy it by the case. That's my 2 cents worth.

Tom (Rollo) Hardy
AMCA #12766

[rbenash]

Any reason to change weight from 60 higher/lower depending on season or ambient temps?

[David]

Amsoil formulated this oil just for older H-D`s it has low detergant ,and in answer to your concern over bearing roller skate it is formulated to elemenate that problem. This is a NEW product that adresses all the concerns of the vintage motor. David

[sidecar]

Your post says that "Amsoil has formulated this oil for older HD's". Which weight or other product identifying specifications are there for the oil that you think is best?
I've about decided that some Amsoil product (?) or Aeroshell 120 would be the best choices, but I think that we need an oil with ZDDP but also WITHOUT Detergents so as to allow the particulates to settle out into sludge in the old bikes without a filter. Have you got more specifics on Amsoil? Thanks.

[KNUCK]

Any reason to change weight from 60 higher/lower depending on season or ambient temps?

I go 50 in the winter and 60 in the summer. Can't hardly kick it over in the winter with 60.