Stepping out into the garage, I gasped in horror. It was a terrible sight. One I thought never to behold. Even then I was already denying it.
A foreign substance adorned the floor underneath my Valkyrie. My mind reeled. I didn't understand. Under my Valkyrie? I'd never seen anything like it. My gawd! There must be five or six drops of the stuff! What could it possibly be?
Much consternation ensued. Consultants were called. Tests were run. Scenarios were concocted. In my lowest moment I blamed the pets.
The police were as puzzled as I was...but all they could tell me was that it wasn't blood. Lacking any other evidence, they didn't feel they could call out the FBI to further investigate. Calls to Pentagon and the White House went unreturned. Jheeze! Don't they understand the seriousness of the situation? What kind of leadership is that?
Finally, in an act of sheer desperation...I looked at the underside of the Valkyrie.
There was no denying it any longer.
NNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
It's an oil leak! At least 5 drops! And only 95,000 miles of rather enthusastic abuse on her! I reeled in terror. My world spun around me. What could this mean? Would I have to check the oil? I'd never done that to the Valkyrie before. Always, for oil changes I've just ridden 5000 miles or so. Drained four quarts out, poured four quarts back in, and we're done!
I mean, it's rumored the Valkyrie has a dipstick...but I'm not sure anyone's ever found the thing...much less used it.
An oil leak? In a Valkyrie? That just does not happen!
Finally my wife...always the more sensible of the two of us, sought me out. She found me stuffed in the linen closet, curled into a fetal position, whimpering...a broken man. She always knows how to deal with these things.
She handed me a glass of iced tea and said, "Why don't you just fix the leak?"
I sat up, took the proffered tea, and said, "Oh. Well. Okay then."
So here you go. A Valkyrie Shifter Oil Seal replacement.
You need this part:
For those that don't want to shell out the three bucks Honda wants for the part, what's written on the seal is SD 14 28 7A and Y9. I suspect though, that all you need to cross it is the "4x09" that's on the Honda label.
You'll also need a 10mm socket, a 12mm socket, and a couple extensions. A "wobble" extension will make life much easier.
The shifter rod extension and footpeg need to be removed.
The bolt that holds the shifter peg on is 10mm. It has to be removed completely, not just loosened, as it is an active retainer for the lever, not just a clamp.
I found it helpful to remove the driver's foot peg. That's a pair of 12mm bolts that hold it on.
Sorry for the blurry pic below...I was working really fast! (yeah, that's it)
With a wobble extension and the footpeg removed you can easily remove the bolt.
The old seal
The easiest way to remove the seal is to screw a screw into into it and just pull it out. No big deal.
High tech seal removal tool
Heh heh...I really screwed up that seal huh?
Seal removed
All that's left is to tap the new seal into place and reinstall the lever. Also, the Valk is much easier to test ride if you re-install the driver's foot peg.
Now...maybe a few thousand miles of hard running will get that oil off, yes?
CUAgain,
Daniel Meyer
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