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Harley Davidson oil

Phaedrus

Phaedrus

We'll do it live!
Joined
Aug 31, 2002
Location
San Jose, CA
Moto(s)
'66 Suzuki X6 Hustler, '68 Suzuki T500 Cobra, '72 Suzuki T500 Titan, '74 Suzuki GT550 et. all
So pretty soon I'm going to get my '67 Harley Davidson SS Sprint back on the road. I've always wondered what the proper oil was for it though. My service manual and the bike's owner's manual call for HD-75 oil. Does anyone know what the hell "regular" motorcycle oil (preferably Rel-Ray) that is equivalent to?
 
Not sure about the old ones, but I think 20W50 is what the current models run. I know that's the recommended synthetic grade (Mobil1). That's also the stock weight for my beemer, so I figure...
 
It's actually an Italian Aremacchi built 250CC single made for and sold by Harley, but I think you guys are right. 20-50's probably prettmuch good for any oldish pushrod motors.

It's similar to this but has a big 60's Harley logo on the tank:
 

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I've used the screamin eagle [ H.D. brand] 20-50 synthetic in both the engine & transmission in my sportster with no probs at all.
 
Any 50 grade will do or if you are riding in different temp climates then use a multi grade 20-50. I would not use a synthetic in a motor that old unless it has been totally rebuilt
 
This is good info from that link:

I'll be riding it above 40F because it doesn't get that cold here and even if it did I'm too much of a wimp to go out and ride in it. So that equates to SAE 60wt. Where the hey do you get 60wt motorcycle oil? I've never even heard of it. I'm still tending to think that regular 20-50 would be fine since this is not actually manufactured by Harley and the tolerances are probably tighter.

Harley Grade 75.....Medium Heavy oil.......Use above 40F
Harley Grade 58.....Special Light oil..........Use below 40F
Harley Grade 105...Regular Heavy oil.......Use at severe operating conditions at high air temperatures.
Grade 75 was equal to SAE 60wt
Grade 58 was equal to SAE 50wt
Grade 105 was equal to SAE 70wt
 
Run 20-50 and forget that other shit. It's a sixties air cooled single. I ran them.
 
afm199 said:
Run 20-50 and forget that other shit. It's a sixties air cooled single. I ran them.
Click to expand...

Not necessarily. What king of crank bearings does the bike have? The old harleys don't have pressurized crank bearings and NEED straight 50 weight. But since its soem sort of re-badge, of an italian motor MAYBE it has a pressurized, non-roller bearing crank. If that is the case then 20-50 would be acceptable. You need to know which this motor has.
 
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