Perhaps I should have been more clear in my previous post, you have to disassemble things to inspect for wear. Same for steering head bearings and fork tube bushings. And I suspect that is at least partially why HD stopped putting a gease fitting on the steering heasd and drain plugs on the fork sliders.

Paul

 

Well, dog my cats. My newest HD is a 2014. Over the years I've noticed the disappearance of grease fittings in other places like the rear brake and shifter levers; just never figured they's get rid of the steering head one.

 

Dan, my '08 FLHT has a zerk fitting on the neck. Greasing it is fairly simple, just a wee bit awkward. None of that stuff has to be removed. The stock fitting was straight, so I changed it to a 90 degree fitting. Much easier.

 

Ok. I didn't know HD had stopped installing those zerk fittings. If I had to dig into it, when the steering head assembly was apart, I think I'd drill and tap a hole to install one. Not that complicated, if it's apart already.

 

If the lube is confined to the neck, no problem. Question is the neck opened to the frame?

 

Yes, some bikes did come with grease fittings on the neck, and I think one of the consequences of that was people would pump grease into the neck, but never disassemble and inspect the bearings.

 

No.

 

I spoke with the shop this morning. He will do the bearings and fork oil for $500 so I'll take it to him in a week or so. He can do it in a few hours so for 500 it's worth it to me right now.

 

I gotta get new glasses...

Or new eyes...

 

Touring frame, yes.