Table of Contents

EVO: Oiling & Lubrication - Sub-03G

Comparing the 98 and the 07 Style Oil Pumps

Volume and Flow Comparison

See also this XLForum discussion starting around post #140: https://www.xlforum.net/forum/sportster-motorcycle-forum/sportster-motorcycle-motor-engine/sportster-motorcycle-motor-top-end/201713-1250-unhappiness-2020-edition/page14?t=2078814&page=14
Click Here to view calculated volumes of 1977-present Sportster oil pumps.

The scavenge gerotors in the 07 oil pump are considerably taller than in 06-prior oil pumps which easily points to the 07 scavenge side pumping out more oil from the motor.
And the feed gerotors are considerably shorter than in 06-prior oil pumps as well.
So it'd be easy to assume that the 07 feed side pumps a lot less oil than in previous years due to the smaller height.

Height of gerotors in general:
The height of the gerotors (feed or return respectively) was changed several times from the beginning of the use of the gerotor pump in 1977 to present Sportsters.
Click Here to see 77-Present Sportster Oil Pump Comparisons in the REF section of the Sportsterpedia.
(shows visual differences in height and OD of the different year gerotors)
Prior to 2007, the amount of oil the gerotors can carry was only “adjusted” by changing their height. The taller the gearset, the more oil you can cram between the gears.

Outside diameter of the gerotors:
The MoCo changed the OD of the feed gerotors in 07 to match the OD of the return side (the pump housing bore is now the same from the feed to the return side).
06 and prior feed gerotors are smaller OD than their return counterparts and the housing bore is respective to those gearsets.
However the outside diameters, themselves, do not pertain in any way to the amount of oil the pump can deliver.
The change in OD occurred to allow for a wider tooth profile to be cut between the inner and outer gerotor sets.
The wider tooth profile allows for more oil delivery.
It's the area between the gearset teeth (inner and outer) that determines the amount of oil delivered no matter what the OD of the gearset is.
So the change in OD was more of a mechanical necessity flowing the same amount of oil as before the change.

Tooth Profile:
The relationship of the inner and outer gearset (or tooth profile) is the same from 1977-2006.
In fact, you can place a 98 inner return gear into a 77 outer return gear and still check the clearance with a feeler gauge just like they were made together that way.
You can do the same with different height feed gerotors from 77-06.
They will be different heights but the inner to outer clearance and general movement will be the same (respective of wear).
In the 2007-up pump, the teeth in both gearsets were changed to a wider profile. The wider profile alone allows for more oil volume to and from the pump.
So even if 06 and 07 gerotors were all the same height, the addition of the wider profile in 07 would give more oil.

Return Gerotors:
In addition to the wider tooth profile, the 07 return gerotors were made taller than in 06.
If you simply do the math of the height change from the 06 return side, that doesn't give a good description of the return volume change.
You would need to take in consideration both the height change as well as the wider tooth profile.

Feed Gerotors:
The 07 feed gerotors were made shorter than in the 06 pump. The 2007 HD Technical Forum documentation explains the differences in the new improved oil pump.
Per that document,
The feed gerotors are thinner to accommodate taller scavenge gerotors but redesigned for no loss of capacity (from the 06 gearset).
As in above, 2006 and prior gerotors carried more or less oil depending on how tall the gerotor set is.
The taller the gearset, the more oil is carried.
However, due to the wider tooth profile, the MoCo was able to deliver nearly the same amount of oil with a thinner gerotor set.
In essence, the practice of changing oil volume now has a plan B (changing tooth profile).
However, the 07 feed gerotors do deliver slightly less feed oil than 86-06 pumps.

The magic is there! That explains why the feed gerotors still keep their oil moving capacity in spite of them now having less height. 1)
The outer gerotors' 9 point star diameter is now larger, so the inner gerotor's 8 point star are too.

Area and Flow Rate Comparison:

The feed gerotors from 06 and 07 pumps were measured and drawn on Autocad by XLF member, xLoneRiderx.
The area and volume for each is shown in the drawing below. The values are shown in metric but can be converted.
According to the drawing, the 2007 oil pump has a 7% decrease in feed flow and a 52% increase in scavenge flow over the 1998-2006 oil pump.

2)

Visual Differences and Dims

98 and 07 oil pumps 3)
98 and 07 oil pumps 4)
98 and 07 oil pumps 5)
98 and 07 oil pumps 6)
98 and 07 oil pump internals 7)
98 and 07 oil pump internals 8)
98 inside scavenger gerotor 9) 98 and 07 inside scavenger gerotors 10)
07 inside scavenger gerotor 11)
98 outside scavenger gerotor 12) 98 and 07 outside scavenger gerotors 13)
07 outside scavenger gerotor 14) 98 and 07 scavenger gerotors installed 15)
98 separator plate 16) 98 and 07 separator plates 17)
07 separator plate 18)
98 separator plate 19)
98 inside feed gerotor 20) 98 and 07 inside feed gerotors 21)
07 inside feed gerotors 22)
98 outside feed gerotor 23) 98 and 07 outside feed gerotors 24)
07 outside feed gerotor 25) 98 and 07 feed gerotors installed 26)


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photos by Hippysmack of the XLFORUM
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photo by Hippysmack of the XLFORUM