Thanks daddyracer56, appreciate the offer.

Shouldn't be such a stretch. Way back, I used to fix my own bikes and cars, anything that didn't require a machine shop really. Those were the days when you could look under the bonnet of a car and see past the motor to the ground below! You know, sit on the fender with your feet in the engine well and unbolt the heads or manifolds or whatever!!

Also I've been disappointed with attention to detail from the dealer, it was supposed to have had a full service 3 or 4 thousand K's ago, didn't mention the head bearings were wearing!!

Why did you not get the 660040? surely thats the main installer tool...

 a dealer should know that @ 16,000 klm's the steering bearing's need too be checked or replaced more than not, i don't have a too modern car  i do have & original old HQ  202 Prem with a factory fitted  GTR  4 spd & consol with LE Monaro buckets  from the factory built  i'am small enough to stand in the engine bay with my feet on the ground

Damn...so my OEM set at 75,000 are about due for replacement...lol

Yep....have a new set of steering bearings sitting in the shed waiting to be installed. Reading this thread nudged me enough to decide to swap them out.

 i use too weld a bit of scrap metal or a bolt the right lenght across  inside the inner bearing outer cup    but on your model you could burn up the powercoating on the frame if not carefull but if you do  VHT gloss black is a very good blend in paint have done it heap's,   just cold wet rag's around the out sideof the frame   weld slowly  then punch out the old cup's  , clean out proper frame head  push new bearing's with a made driff if not a proper size socket will do the trick  with a 6" extension  stop check your straight ,   just make sure there  all the way home you will hear the note change when they are . clean again pack with high temp bearing grease  install tree's & forks  do up to 10 lb then tap med hard with a soft face hammer on the crown main nut  then back of to zero do her up too about only 2 to 4 lb's presure only  , do not do the fall test as per the manual as this end's too tight ,  just above zero is good , if you do more hwy mile's than city miles  the bearing's will wear in one spot more so as the presure point of the rollers are in one spot more often,   if you model has a grease nipple in the steering head on the left side . with the front wheel off the ground pump grease in untill it comes out the top dust seal  & every service after that

Thanks, daddyracer56, sounds like good advice. I've read mixed comments on whether or not the 'fall away' test is the best way to go. I'd say most of my riding is in the twisties up here in the Adelaide hills, but still I got that wear in the straight position....guess it's gotta wear out somewhere.

I do have a grease nipple on my stem, but I reckon it's never been used. That'd be a shit load of grease to fill the stem up, and it'd probably drip out of the steering lock too!!

 did harley make a special grease for the springer  steering bearing's  i think but i do not know , could look it up but i do know harley is aware of the  springer steering bearing  wear factor @ 16,000 klm's                 after install new bearings re-check  bearing's preload after 100 klm's

Just had a bit of a quick look, seems most opinions are that you pump grease in until it pushes out past the bearing covers. Seems strange then that as delivered, it only had greased bearings, nothing in the stem, so to speak. And to go along with the 'pump it full' opinion were lots of complaints about how much grease came out during normal use, and sprayed over the bike......anyone got some hydraulics for sale!!

Do some more checking when I get time....christmas obligations are calling....

how did you go mate? gotta do mine now (exactly the same notchy feeling you described) and have bearings and races in transit.

 Keld, still waiting for the bearing removal tool to arrive. Other than being a bit of a pain in the ass having to unbolt so many bits just to get to the bearings, I think it's pretty straightforward. I unbolted what I had to, but I left the wiring connected, the brake line intact, and just moved bits outa the way. Took the clutch cable off 'cos it was easy and convenient. Some pretty self explanatory pics below....

Here you can see the 'notches' worn into the lower bearing cup.

its a bit blurry. are the marks indented with clean edges or indented slightly with crazed edges like the edges have been etched?. Dents with clean edges are impact only and etched edges but not as deep are from corosion. = water damage.
looks like you've found the result, but what caused it?

Worn out through impact damage hey. I've not had a springer front end but someone before suggested these are harder on bearings. Now you know what to look out for next time around. Top marks for doing it yourself man. cool ride too i might add. love the no touching sign too.

Ha! Oh yeah, went to a show & shine, that sign was in the goody bag......nothing wrong with your eyesight FLHuTChU!!

Cheers.

Colstah,

Greasing head bearings - when assembling they just fill the cups by hand top and bottom because it's all in pieces and access is easy. When you're servicing, you can't get the same access so you can only fill the whole headstock via the grease nipple - 500ml or more of grease the first time. Lots of opinions about which grease, but frankly it's not seeing high speeds, high loads so pretty much any bearing grease should do.

A tip is to tightly tie thick string/a bootlace aound the bottom of the headstock:triple tree interface. This helps keep the grease in until it comes out at the top. It can get messy for the first few Ks as excess grease heats up and dribbles everywhere!

Good luck with the rest of the job - that is one clean bike.

A

Rgr that Andysdad, that makes sense.

So, according to my service manual, inspect the front fork bearings every 8,000 km and inspect and lube every 16,000 km. I'm wondering if I'm gonna get say 32,000 km out of a set of bearings if I lube them....betting not! I'm thinking it's more like inspect every 8,000 km and might as well replace every 16.000 km and not bother with the lube, might save cleaning time!

I have to admit that I only ever checked them by judging if there was any free play, never attempted to make adjustments. Getting the front end free of cables to check the fall away just seemed too hard. From what I've read online, I don't think mine have worn out any quicker than normal, but now I wonder whether better inspection and adjustment would have given them a longer life....

Oh well, I'll have the appropriate tool soon, wont be a big deal to replace them, I guess.

And yeah, clean alright, and she turns 19 in march next year. It's the only one I'll ever likely to have, and it saddens me to see her ageing like this...

She's not ageing - it's just maintenance to keep her tip-top.

At least you can replace parts on bikes. It's us you have to worry about - no user-replaceable parts, spares are available but only at HUGE expense and rarely fit! At least I always have a spare tyre (round my waist!)

Cheers

A

just finished doing mine. new bearings, races and cups for me. back together with heap of grease packed in and its a different ride now.

Hey there Colstah, I'm looking to have a go doing the bearings on mine once cricket season finishes (probably end of March). How long would it take to do, mine is just a std frontend. Any special tools required. I'm guessing a bike lift would be a must have (need to buy one), any tips you could pass on would be appreciated too. Cheers.