The Below Information was put together just as a general resource. Please do your own due diligence and research accordingly and discuss with your mechanic. With the number of models and years of Big Dog's produced and the changes from year-to-year there are many differences.
S&S Tech Instructional Sheets - https://www.sscycle.com/tech-info/instruction-sheets
Lot’s of customer’s ask about oil’s to use on their bikes. All oils are personal preference but just want to include this information here for your reference.
ENGINE:
S&S Recommends Conventional or Synthetic 20w50 VTWIN motor Oil for use in all their Engines.
Also, if you want to do some reading - here is a research study available online from AMSOIL very detailed and offers you a little technical information on each 20w50 tested.
http://assets.ngin.com/attachments/document/0016/3287/A_Study_of_Motorcycle_Oils.pdf
A few common customer preferred options for you to consider:
- Mobil 1 Synthetic VTWIN 20w50
- AMSOIL MCV Synthetic 20w50
- Bel-Ray VTWIN Semi-Synthetic 20w50
- Royal Purple MAX-CYCLE Synthetic VTWIN 20w50
SPARKS PLUGS
S&S Recommendations are:
- 107” = RN12YC Champions
- 111” & 117” = Champion RA8HC 12mm spark plugs that should be gapped between .038- and .042-inch.
PRIMARY:
ENERGY-ONE clutches are in all Big Dog’s original from the manufacture and directly from their website is the below: https://www.energyoneclutches.com/
“The type of fluids we recommend are any HD petroleum based, non-synthetic, primary oil, as light weight as possible, or even a good petroleum-based motor oil such as 10/40 or 20/50 in weight. You can even use ATF Type F or B&M Trickshift. THE USE OF SYNTHETICS IS NOT RECOMMENDED AS THEY TEND TO CAUSE SLIPPAGE.”
The clutches designed from ENERGY-ONE can be ran dry! The oil is only in the primary for chain lubrication and that’s why they prefer a light weight non-synthetic!
A few common customer preferred options for you to consider:
- Harley Davidson Primary Oil Non-Synthetic
- REVTECH Primary Oil Non-Synthetic
- Bel-Ray Primary Chaincase Lubricant Oil
- B&M Trickshift
- ATF Type F
TRANSMISSION:
Only 20 oz in the Baker Transmissions!
Baker made the transmission on these Big Dog’s and they work with Spectro and Redline which are advertised on their website. I think sticking to either of those two options is the preferred safe bet!
From Baker Website: https://bakerdrivetrain.com/collections/big-dog
“Picking the right transmission fluid ensures the life and durability of your transmission, that’s why BAKER recommends a fully synthetic GL-5 rated gear weight oil of 75W-140. “
FORK OIL
The original owner’s manual for these bikes all differ in their recommendations in 03 & 04 they stated 10w on all models in the later years it was 30w fork oil for all bikes except the Pitbull which was 10w. Appears they later revised their recommendation and customer preference over the years we have seen 30w EXCEPT PITBULL especially on the Chopper, Ridgeback, K9 models.
Basically, it sounds like 30w fork oil for all bikes except the Pitbull or the Inverted Front Ends because those are different! Not much information ever from Big Dog except in the 04 Service Manual for the inverted Front Ends, it states Inverted forks use 350cc in each leg of Bel-Ray HVI 15w Racing Suspension fluid.
