Oil Tanks

Steel sheet oil tanks

Still the best and preferred material for oil tanks on Harley-Davidson motorcycles is sheet metal, i.e. steel sheet. Steel sheet can be formed, stamped and stretched, it is tear-resistant and reasonably resistant to vibrations, and it can be welded, brazed or even soldered. Above all, sheet steel tanks can be repaired over and over, even in Patagonia, Alaska or PanAma.

With plastic oil tanks, you might be lucky: sometimes they can be “welded” with a soldering iron. But they can hardly be glued, the plastics used are too inert. Anyway, the result will always be questionable in terms of durability. Cast aluminum tanks like those on the WR models used to be the exception, unless you count the oil sumps on Dynas and Touring that are located under the transmission.

What kind of fittings do Harley-Davidson oil tanks have?

The oil tanks that are integrated into the gas tanks have only two connections: the feed line to the oil pump and the outlet from the manually operated pump. With total loss oil lubrication, you don't need any more.

All oil tanks for the later models with recirculating oil lubrication have three connections for lines or hoses going to the engine: feed, return and vent. Softail and newer Sportster oil tanks have the drain hose as a fourth connection. Older Sportster oil tanks sometimes have a drip lubrication for the rear wheel chain as the fourth connection.