How bad is it on a dry-sump to slightly over-fill the tank?  I understand how it affects a wet-sump system, but my HD is the first dry-sump vehicle I've owned.

TIA --Stu

The tank is vented to prevent vapor lock. Worse thing that can happen overfilling is puking oil out the vent. I'm told this is because dry sumps need expansion room in the tank.


Rumour has it that it's possible to launch the oil cap at an unsuspecting rider next to you causing tremendous excitement and large amounts of oil to be deposited, not only on the overfilled bike, but also on the oil cap dodging bike next to you. YMMV.

The only thing I'd worry about is where the vent line goes.
I suspect it goes to the airbox, so if it starts puking out the vent, that could be a bit of a mess.

Turkey baster?

Someone else posted a great idea for getting extra oil out - A pump from a larger sunscreen/lotion/soap/etc bottle.  The larger ones have a relatively thin, but long tube and there's the built in pump

The HD is mechanically similar to a '52 International Harvester tractor so I suspect that the sucker can wait until my oil change next week.  So far...it's over filled, but hasn't caused any issues.

As already covered, not much truly bad will happen. Back in my racing days, depending on the track, race distance, etc, we would run more or less oil. If we were at Michigan or Fontana, we'd add more and more oil during practice 1 until it started puking it back out (into the "puke tank") and that would be our starting race oil level. We knew what we originally put in, what was added, measured the volume of puked oil, then do the math to get the amount needed for race engine install. In this case it was to ensure we had enough oil for 500 miles at max revs.