Greasing Steering Neck Bearings

[MegaGlide]

Originally Posted by trmn8r

So if ones neck bearings have progressed beyond the need for grease, ... say at about 30000 miles you discovered your dealer didnt grease them at the 1000 mile checkup and you were a 41 and didn't bother checking them at 5000, 10000, 15000, 20000, 25000, cause "surely the dealer greased them and they'll be alright" ... so at 30000, grease them up real good. Now at 52000, I'm pretty sure waiting till 30000 was just to dang long, going by Littlebears posts, I believe linked earlier in this thread, mine are loose. Has just felt really squirly coming to a stop all summer, and when crossing tar snakes, and ridges, at anything below about 30MPH the front end just takes a little wiggle... and the tires are new, well rear is, front is a year old but no wear really... So anyway, back to the original point of this post... How tough are neck bearings to adjust on a bagger? can I do it by just pulling the outer fairing or is the radio and switch cap gonna have to come off? or the whole damn inner fairing as well? man I hope not I just put my painted inner on last year and dont EVEN want to pull all those wires out again, plus risk dinging the paint on that new inner. If they are worn out and have to be replaced then I bet it all has to come off, hoping not for adjusting. How do you know if they are beyond being adjusted and must be replaced? I suppose I could look this up in my manual, but I'm at work now and just got to wondering about the size of the job I'm in for soon.

That's one job I pay my dealer to do.
Of course, it looks like you did, too, with different results.
'Nother dealer or indy?

[d j]

If they have never been greased it takes a full tube to fill the neck enough until it exudes.

[ms_tapestry]

Mine have been greased at every 5K service since I got her and I still had to have them replaced at 40K. . . . probably because of the weight of the springer front end. I knew they needed to be replaced because of the movement (shifting) in the front end when I turned from a stop or when I was leaning into a curve. Seems to me this is something that needs to be tended to sooner then later for safety's sake.

[thrasher]

All the grease in the world ain't going to solve the problem if your bearings have flat spots and the races are indexed.

[SafetyMan]

Just a shade over a half tube.

I've done 2 of them in the last couple months.



I need to adjust mine though, I get a shimmy on decel around 30, I think my fall-away is out.