Shovel puking oil

[gusjustgus]

Bike is a 77 fxe chop. Daily Rider, has not been sitting.
Was on a short ride just did a head gasket so it was a high rpm ride. Suddenly lost oil out the crank case breather. Not a little emptied the whole oil tank.
Will try to change the check valve ball.
If that's not it how skrewed am I?

[Sky]

My guess from here is the oil pump stopped returning.
Might "just" be a sheared key...

[Tattooo]

My guess from here is the oil pump stopped returning.
Might "just" be a sheared key...

Yep or a crimped line???????????? You need to find it before you ride it again..........

[PRWIS13]

Yep or a crimped line???????????? You need to find it before you ride it again..........

I agree with Tattooo, Do not ride the bike till the problem is found. 1 step at a time, eazy things first. Check oil lines good if they are more than 7 or 8 years change them. Check ball valve. Check oil pump. I do not think you are screwed, its ben a few years sense I ran a shovel, but this sounds like something me or maybe a brother dealt with before. If you get as far as the oil pump, one trick is to take a thin coat of Vaseline on the gasket when you put the half's back together. It will hold the gasket in place. It can be a bitch other wise.

[Dragstews]

Could pull the return oil line off the pump and install a temporary oil line and see if it indeed is pumping oil back to the tank..

Must agree with the Guys here, there most likely is something up with oil not being pumped out of the motor in order for it to push that much oil out the crank-case vent...

If a piece of hard metal gets into the pump return gears, most often it will lock the gears from spinning and shear a key and damage the gears doing so, perhaps also the pump body...

Do think I would dig a little deeper by having a look into the cam chest.... Might find lifter rollers blown up, they do come apart with high mileage. Also be a good idea to clean out the port that pulls oil out of the air/oil cavity back into the breather gear...

[Dragstews]

"Could pull the return oil line off the pump and install a temporary oil line and see if it indeed is pumping oil back to the tank.."

Try doing this....

[gusjustgus]

Installed a new check valve ball, spring, and O ring.
Checked the all oil lines, put in a new filter.
Still dumping all the oil.
Pulled the return line, almost nothing coming out of there.

From what I can see I will have to go in to the can section

[Dragstews]

Pulled the return line, almost nothing coming out of there.

You have just localize your problem.....

Now all you have to do is .....



to what is causing the oil not to return...

[Tattooo]

My bet is it sheared a key............

[Tattooo]

From what I can see I will have to go in to the can section

What can????????

[Dragstews]

Think he missed the "M" and meant CAM.....
I think, I could be wrong ....???
(Think I'll stop thinking for awhile, head starting to hurt....
OH .. I know why it's starting to hurt.... It's time to go water the Mule..!!)

Here Ruth.... Come hether boy....!!!

.../// https://youtu.be/uo696R-yrn8 \\\...

..........Not to make light of this..........

[gusjustgus]

Now the question is, can I get to the woodruff key through the oil pump, or is the path through the cam case?

[Tattooo]

Now the question is, can I get to the woodruff key through the oil pump, or is the path through the cam case?

It comes out through the oil pump side...... But you have to take the snap ring off below the cam on the inside............. Do you have a manual?????????? If you don't buy a Harley one........

[Dragstews]

The whole pump can be removed from the motor case without pulling the cam cover...
The gears that are riding next to the case are the return gears... That key is most likely sheared....
Be a chore to reload the pump without holding the pump drive shaft from moving back into the case when it's time to install the C-clip on the end of the shaft...

And besides.... Think I would want to take a look in the cam chest to see where the chunk of metal came from that locked up the pump in the first place... May be more pieces that are next in line to make their way into the pump....

Here's another thought of where the pieces came from....

Your year motor is about when Harley started to use the INA cam bearing....
If it is in your motor.... Get rid of it ASAP and go back to the Torrington that Harley did use since 1958....

That INA bearing has been nothing but trouble with coming apart and causing major motor damage....

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I'm doing some work on a 79 FX at the moment....
Pulled the cam cover off to have chromed.
Started on putting the motor back together and seen that a INA was in it..
Told the owner a few horror stories about what happens when they fail ...
He said to replace it with a Torrington...Which I did...

The INA was just about to give up the ghost with the cage being broke and hanging on by a thread....

I still have it laying on the shop table, a photo is soon to follow....
Guess you could say that I caught it in the nick of time...!!!

[gusjustgus]

I know I have to pull the push rods, can I get away with leaving the tappets in place or will the weight throw off the cam?
And that if I can fish out a broken key with the cam still there.

Short on time.