Baker Plus-One Oil Pan - Add An Extra Quart Of Cool

4. Instead of removing the rear wheel, we compressed the rear shocks and held the rear end down with a tie down strap. This pushed the frame down and away from the rear tire.

5. With a 3/16-inch hex socket we removed the screws from the stock pan. A little maneuvering of the stock pan was required to slide it out and past the rear tire. The photo shows the clearance. We also used a long screwdriver to push down on the pan's inner baffle springs.

6. Here we used a 1/4-20 re-threading tap to chase the holes in the aluminum transmission case. Re-threading taps and dies remove nicks and burrs from the threads and are less likely to cross thread a hole than hardened cutting taps and dies. A little solvent and compressed air finished the job.

7. Before installation, we separated the top and bottom parts of the new oil pan retaining the gasket and bolts for later. Then we cleaned any debris with a non-residue solvent (like brake cleaner) and blew out all holes.

8. Here's a comparison of the stock oil pan (top) and bottom half of the Baker Plus-One. Note that in the stock pan, the oil return port (A) is close to the front where the oil pick-up port is located. While in the Plus-One, the oil return port (B) is near the rear of the pan which forces hot returning oil to travel the length of pan before pick up.

9. A thin coat of Hylomar gasket sealer was spread on the Plus-One top half surface and on the matching surface of the transmission case. When allowed to dry until tacky, it will help hold the gasket in place and seal it.

10. We installed the top half of the Plus-One using the 12 1/4-20 socket head cap screws using blue threadlocker, making sure the gasket was aligned. Then we snugged the screws evenly.

11. All bolts were torqued to 110 in-lb following the sequence in the instructions.

12. Here we test fit the bottom half of the Plus-One, without a gasket, under the top pan aligning the top dowels with the bottom holes. There was plenty of room to slip the thin bottom pan into place.

13. The test fit revealed a problem. One of the bottom pan fasteners was inaccessible above the crossmember. Since the factory already provided access holes for two stock screws, we figured one more hole wouldn't hurt. So we carefully marked and center punched the location directly under the problem screw and then drilled a 1/4-inch hole to slip our hex socket through.

14. With another application of Hylomar and placement of the gasket, we slipped the bottom pan in and pushed it up onto the top pan. All 12 bolts were inserted, and torqued to 110 in-lb.

15. We filled the transmission and oil pan with fresh H-D Syn3 then checked the fluid levels. Be sure to add an extra quart to the oil pan, hence the name Plus-One Oil Pan.

16. Oops. Oil immediately began to leak down the front and side of the pan. The leaks appeared to come from the seal between the top and bottom pan sections and not from the top pan and transmission case. We re-drained all the fresh oil into a clean pan and saved it. Then we pulled the bottom pan for inspection.

17. Oops again, our bad. We failed to heed the warning in the instructions to take critical care with this gasket. We only used normal care and allowed the gasket to slip about 1/4-inch, enough to block half the transmission drain hole (arrow) and kink the gasket. No wonder it leaked like a cheap rain suit. Fortunately, Chris at Baker Drivetrain responded to our urgent call and FedEx'd a replacement gasket.

18. Humbled now, with the new gasket and using critical care, no leaks were present, even after we took a short test ride. Now that's cool, really. Here's the boss (arrow) for the TXR which we'll cover next month.