The 2018 Harley-Davidson Road Glide Special has a starting suggested retail price of $26,299 and is available in four colors: Vivid Black, Wicked Red, Bonneville Salt Pearl, and Hard Candy Hot Rod Red Flake. Powering this American machine is an air-cooled, SOHC, four-valves-per-cylinder, 107ci (1,746cc), 3.937-inch by 4.375-inch V-twin.

We are diving into the performance part of our 2018 Harley-Davidson Road Glide Special project, and that includes installing a new cam. We went with Screamin’ Eagle’s Stage II Power Kit. To install a new cam in the Milwaukee-Eight engine you’ll need to find top dead center (TDC) on each cylinder at different points during the install. TDC can be identified easily by finding when the cylinders’ lifters are at their lowest points. You can do this by turning the engine over by hand.

Most instructions tell you to remove the spark plugs and lift the rear wheel off the ground, then turn that to turn the engine. This is all correct information and you can certainly do it that way, but there is another little tip that will help you spin the rear tire almost effortlessly.

By shifting the transmission into the highest gear (in our case, sixth gear), you can turn the wheel using much less force than if you were to try in first gear. It’s a simple little tip, but it definitely helps speed things along.