A bit late to the game here but I thought I'd add a little clarification for people using this thread in the future. There is some confusion around the frame changes in 2014 as far as the neck is concerned. The images below, except for the first one, are from a 2014 ultra Limited.
The older frames used a metal washer with a rubbery 'seal' that held grease in somewhat. It wasn't overly effective over time and grease would drip down onto the front fender. Now there is just a metal cup at the bottom of the neck that fits 'somewhat' well to keep debris out but the seal was 86'ed. Riding in rain will, and does, let water in.
Because there isn't anything to keep grease from dripping out when it gets hot, barely any grease is applied during assembly.
It is possible to put a grease fitting in (I've seen people say the grease would just go into the frame tube - it's just a solid cast sleeve) but it won't stick around for long. Better to grease them regularly. It's also easy to remove the bearing cages due to the recesses cast into the neck.
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
AND, they can't charge you for the inspection work if you can just shoot some grease into it yourself every 10K miles.
Ultra103Y, unless I am missing the obvious, I can't tell for sure what bike you have and those great pics still don't give a "warm and fuzzy" confidence on whether the steering tube is open or closed to the frame. I took full advantage of the factory zerk on my 2008 Road King and I would much prefer to do a couple of squirts of grease on each servicing than to tear apart the front end every 25,000 miles IF the steering tube is not open to the frame. Experience with Lucas Marine grease is that even it "migrates" a bit over time and the "drizzles" need to be cleaned up. A few extra minutes when cleaning the bike is far prefferable ( vs several hours of disassembly, cleaning, reassembly, and adjusting the swing). Others might well enjoy that but I would rather just ride. I now have a '23 FLHP, police Road King.
Ultra103Y, unless I am missing the obvious, I can't tell for sure what bike you have and those great pics still don't give a "warm and fuzzy" confidence on whether the steering tube is open or closed to the frame.
Appreciate the input - I updated my post, it's my 2014 UL. The neck tube that the bearings fit in is a solid cast part, no holes except on the top and bottom.
I think the issue with grease, even marine varieties, is that when you shake something viscous, it becomes less viscous. Between heat, idle shake and road vibrations, any added grease will quickly end up toward the lower bearing and out the bottom gap. There may have been enough of a seal on the older setup to allow grease to reach the top bearing, but with the zerk in the center of the tube as it used to be, I don't see any way grease would stay up there now - too much of a gap at the bottom. You'd have to pump half a tube in there and I have a feeling you'd be cleaning 95% of that up off the front fender in short order.
08-30-2024, 05:06 PM
