Inner primary seal leaks:Likely root cause

[ViennaHog]

Had to replace both seals in the inner primary at only 15,000 miles. Just started to leak out of the blue. The surface of the inner race was like new and in the right position and there was no play in the main shaft bearing or the starter shaft. When we did the work at a small Indy shop I noticed that they overfilled the primary by almost 40% (1.1l compared to 0.8l as per manual). The guys told me that they always put in a little more.......... . Well, not anymore with my bike.

[Speedbump]

A couple of weeks ago I helped a Bud change out his Inner Primary seal due to a leak, `03 FLHR. The factory seal is crap, only one lip whereas the replacement is a different brand and has a double lip seal, also his race had migrated toward the tranny and we couldn't get the puller behind it to remove the damn thing. After welding a couple of nuts on the race, and using the puller...No dice. We ended up grinding a flat the length of the race (very carefully!) and splitting it (cracking). What a pain in the Ass! Anything to save a buck, right H-D?

[HDMD88]

Originally Posted by ViennaHog

Had to replace both seals in the inner primary at only 15,000 miles. Just started to leak out of the blue. The surface of the inner race was like new and in the right position and there was no play in the main shaft bearing or the starter shaft. When we did the work at a small Indy shop I noticed that they overfilled the primary by almost 40% (1.1l compared to 0.8l as per manual). The guys told me that they always put in a little more.......... . Well, not anymore with my bike.

I always put the oil level at the bottom of the primary chain adjusting shoe, this will give you enough oil to do the job it needs to do and at the same time it will stop all the excess windage of the oil going up to the starter shaft causing a leak. Too much oil will cause a problem.

[ViennaHog]

Originally Posted by hdmd88

I always put the oil level at the bottom of the primary chain adjusting shoe, this will give you enough oil to do the job it needs to do and at the same time it will stop all the excess windage of the oil going up to the starter shaft causing a leak. Too much oil will cause a problem.

Doc
If all mechanics knew what you know...... ,thanks for confirming my suspicion