Ok, so I got this jack from Repco and lifted my bike to check it out.

With the front wheel off the ground I played around with the steering to check if it was OK, not that I know much about it, but thought I could detect if it was loose, or the bearings weren't smooth.....whatever.

What I did find was that when the front wheel is off the ground, and is pointing straight ahead, when I turn the bars a little left and right, I can feel a 'notch' as the wheel gets to the straight forward position. This is normal right? Nothing wrong with the bearing right?

I think I know the answer but if anyone has an opinion (on the 'notch' thing!), I'd like to hear it. I can't find anything in the service manual to say it should be so, just the opposite if I understand it right.

Cheers

 

 Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but sound like your bearing is damaged. Sound like it has a small depression in one or both of the cups.

Could be due to a few factors like previous damage, ar a sudden impact with a wall/gutter/car door.

Or it was loose before and has done a lot of k's and this will hammer the cups in one place.

Or water has gotten in to the headstock (usually from a high pressure washer) and with not much or no grease in there the rollers have rusted inside and etched the hardness layer off the cup.

These are a couple of examples ivé seen over the last 28 years fixin this stuff. You wont know for sure unless you strip down and look. But i hope i am wrong. Hope this helps.

if it's a later model Dyna they do not have a very good main steering bearing seal & lets the water in , or could of been too tight  set-up

as the others have said .

FLHuTChU - Yeah, thanks for the input, I'm sure there must be a problem. As usual, I didn't supply much info.

Bikes a '94 Springer Softail I had since new. No front end damage/collisions etc. Don't think the fronts ends ever been loose, I've felt it whenever the front wheels been off the ground, and servicing hasn't picked it up, and it's hardly been out in the rain, let alone high pressure cleaning (soap and sponge is the norm).

So I respect your opinion, but don't think you've nailed it yet. Except for the part where I need to pull it apart and see what's wrong!

I had read that Springers were harder on head bearings than a hydraulic front end might be, which is why I tried to check them at regular intervals, and it's looking like those story's may be right.

At least I've got a bike jack now!! Should make the job a little easier.......Fuggit!!

Hmmm....maybe it's the Harley Gods telling me it's time to look at that Harley Springer rake kit.... http://vulcanworks.net/Harley-Springer-Rake-Kit-p-17153.html

 

 More info is good as it leads to more theories. Has the bearing ever been changed before? you say 94 model thats 18 years old (im good at stating the obvious) Just constant use for that amount of time would be enough to have hammered the bearing and cause small groves where the rollers sit for the majority of the time when your moving.( straight ahead).  I'm tryin dude.

 

EVO springer 's need there steering bearing's done   every 20,000 klm's  , they are bad on the bearings ,  the front end's are very heavy have you ever felt how much they weight

daddyracer56 - No, but I think I'm gonna feel the weight of it pretty soon!!

FLHuTChU - Yeah, thanks Mate, I appreciate the help. For a few reasons, I haven't ridden it that much, 24,000 k's on the clock, so if daddyracer56 is anything like right (I'd expect he is) then it's overdue for new bearings. Bit of a pity, had it serviced around the 20k mark and they didn't mention the bearings.

Is that an expensive job to get done? I'm reasonably mechanically minded, although I'm no bike mechanic....it sounds pretty straight forward in the service manual, apart from any special tools. Is it harder than it sounds?

While I know fuck all about springers other than what I read here, it would seem even normal riding & hitting potholes could & would put that sort of wear & tear on your bearings! Can't see it being a big job changing the bearing & cups! There are a lot of knowledgeable blokes on here that can guide you in the right direction! Cheers.

Thanks for the input blokes, whatever the cause I'm definitely gonna give it a go.

If you have any advice on the procedure, don't hesistate to post it here, I am always glad to get advice. And if you see a new thread in the coming weeks with something to do with help with head bearings, please take pity on me! 

Cheers

Removing the springer front end is easy, yes heavy indeed. Locktite when re installing.

Removing the springer front end is easy, yes heavy indeed. Locktite when re installing.

 Progress report Colstah??????

Yeah.

Well, I got the bearings, they are sitting on the saddle as I type!

I've just dropped the rear wheel in to get another tyre on it, jeez, that was harder than I remember! Seem to recall I thought that last time, and that I'd go the extra ten bucks or so and just take the bike in.....too late now... I needed to remove the lower belt guard to slide the wheel out, I think one bolt that fixes it into the swingarm has welded itself in since the last time, now I reckon the allen slot is stuffed and it'll never come out! So with some difficulty I removed the rear brake calliper and slide the wheel out....which was good in a way 'cos I realised it's time to replace them pads!!!

Once I get the wheel back I'm gonna head out on a cancer run here, then the steering head gets done.

One other amusing aspect. I tried to get an allen key in a half inch socket form, not happening anywhere round here, plenty of metric...great! NOT. But I digress, also picked up a torque wrench . I have had two, but couldn't find even one. Told the guy selling it to me and we had a bit of a chuckle, as ya do. So I get home with my $80.00 torque wrench and have another futile attempt at getting that 'welded' allen headed bolt out and eventually decide to go for the calliper....hmmmm. Need a torx (is that the right name?) driver to get that off (scratch head). I know I've got some of those too, 'cos I've had it all off before....

Well, finally found them in the top of a tool box I don't look in that much and can ya guess? There was my 'effin torque wrench too!!! Faaarrrkk!! Well, the guy at Repco that sold it to me showed some great restraint and even better customer service and refunded me the money for that torque wrench. I know where I'll go to for my next auto type thing, long as the embarrassment has worn off a bit by then...

Hey Bob, that would have been me putting that belt guard on (it's a chrome after-market part) and I'm pretty sure I didn't use any loctite at all. I'll take your advise and use blue though, as I put the bits back on.

And thanks for the thoughts on the front end. Hadn't considered changing the front shock (mostly the rear that worries me) but maybe I should, though I have to say, I don't bottom out the front much at all, it's usually the rear with two up. Having said that, I know I've done it once or twice in those unavoidable moments.....maybe that's a big contributor to the bearing damage...

Well, I pulled the front end off, got the lower bearing off the fork stem with the help of a heat gun, but buggered if I can get the bearing cases out of the head stem....gonna have to buy the special tool, I think.

I've seen and read some advise about putting heat on the bearing cups but sounds counter-intuitive....it's gonna expand the cups and make them tighter, surely?

Well, finally getting things back on track. Wasn't happy grinding away the bearing cups to get them out, although I did have a go at it, but couldn't come at eating into the head-stem to finish the process. And I don't have MIG or arc welding so that route was a no go. So I finally refined my search and came up with a source for harley special tools.

I tried here - http://www.handsontools.com/ but wanted to pay by paypal and it seemed to lead to a dead-end, in a subsequent email they showed a way to do it.

However, I ended up going here - http://www.georges-garage.com/ and I paid by paypal. Their emails show the tools are on their way, so shouldn't be too much longer although I reckon Christmas holidays will probably slow things up. Oh yeah, did I mention, a local dealer wanted $300.00 for the two parts. I'm getting them shipped from the US for $107.00, postage included, delivered to the door!! That was probably the last time I'll ever step into that dealers premises. Sorta leaves a bad taste in the mouth....not so much the big cost difference, more the unwillingness to help in any way...

Hey...Which tools did you get in the end? I'm about to go through the same job so am wondering..

Tussuck, check out this page - http://www.georges-garage.com/chassis_tools.htm

I got these tools - 660050, and 660060. I decided I could rig up something to replace the last tool of the set - 660070.

I don't have them in my hot little hands yet, so I can only assume they will be fit for the purpose. Once I know for sure I'll of course post back....

good on you for giving it a go  & doing the work your self,   if you need a hand just ask no worries'