Want to change the oil in my Sportsman and the manual says to clean the oil filter screen which is on the back side of the oil reservoir. I have to remove a banjo bolt. Never worked with one of these bolts before. The banjo has an oil hose attached to it which also has to be removed. Not being very mechanically inclined are there any surprises or tips on what not to do if I decide to do this myself.

 

It is not the bolt with the oil hose going to it that you need to remove. It is the bolt on the right side of the engine just behind the foot brake. I made the same mistake and took off the oil hose line without realizing it was the wrong one. It was a real pain to get it back on and lined up correctly.

edit: I just reread your post and saw that it said the bolt is on the back side of the resevoir. maybe I was supposed to take it off, but I never saw a screen on mine. Now I am curious too.

 

The picture from the parts manual shows a bolt that is threaded into another bolt that is threaded into the reservoir. This bolt has the screen.. Inbetween the two bolts is the oil line. I've attached the picture that shows both the drain plug on the front side and the & the banjo bolt with the screen on the back side of the reservoir.

 

Ah, that makes more since then. I just took off 8, 9 and 11. I never took off 12. I guess I should go back and do that. I am having some other issues with my oil so it prolly will not be long before my next oil change anyway. When I drained my oil, I got some really nasty stuff out of there. It came out in globs instead of a nice steady stream.

I wouldn't think there would be any surprises waiting behind that. Just pop it off and clean it up some.

 

there are two copper washers on the banjo bolt. DO NOT LOOSE THEM. it will not seal without them. other than that its easy peasy