1977 Shovelhead FXE

[theflynndog]

I'm new to the motorcycle DIY world and I started in the leakiest machine ever. Inside the primary there is a brass valve near the front just to the rear of the safety wire. I've looked in every manual I have for the bike. It's in the pictures but there is nothing that actually tells me what it is. I'm guessing it's some sort of overfill relief valve but that's just a wild guess. When I fire the bike up it pushes fluid from that valve that was not seated properly (literally pushed out). I need any advice on how to seat that valve, if there is suppose to be a hose on it or not, or really any information you have is greatly appreciated. I can take and post pictures if my explanation is way off base.

Thanks in advance.

[junior]

sounds like the primary chain oiler fitting...you can eliminate that whole setup and go to an enclosed oil bath. if you want to keep it, sounds like you need to pull it apart and reseal it. the system is a constant loss oil bath for the primary chain that uses a dribbler (the fitting you described) fed by a metered oil flow from the engine oil pump.

j

[theflynndog]

I'll see what I can do about getting it ripped apart and resealing it. That would solve at least one leak on the thing, only 400 or so to go.

[theflynndog]

As it turns out the system was already plugged and the hose that was being used came off and in turn yanked the fitting out of the hole. This in turn caused the oil gusher. I spoke with a local HD mechanic and he said I can go ahead and tap out the hole, and then just plug it with a brass pipe plug. Doesn't sound too difficult, I've done the same thing before on a truck engine. I'll post again tonight to let you know if it worked or not