Posted by Halbert (Hal) on April 09, 2002 at 00:05:21:
This is a caution for Myself, for Bryan, and for all who have or are considering lowering their Savages:
I propped my bike upright and checked the oil today, and to my puzzlement, the sight glass was SUBMERGED in oil! I couldn't even tell where the top level was! I thought I must have grossly overfilled at my recent oil/filter change, although I remembered filling to the upper mark on the sight glass. Just before opening the crankcase drain to bring the level back down to full, it occurred to me: Since the oil change, I LOWERED THE BIKE FOUR INCHES IN THE REAR! More of the oil had now collected in the rear of the crankcase, due to gravity, which was giving me a false "overfilled" reading. What if I had drained enough oil to bring it down to the full mark? Then I would have been dangerously LOW on oil! To confirm this, I put the rear tire on a 4" block, to place the engine on the proper "pre-lowered" angle for reading the sight glass, and there it was...right on the full mark!
So to all of you with lowered Savages...please put your rear tire on a block thick enough to compensate for your lowering job BEFORE changing the oil, and for CHECKING it after that!
Stroke On...
Halbert