I'm new here but had the very same problem. I found this solution here and dove into fixing this on my '03 RKC last night. I was done before dinner was ready. The calipers need to be cleaned especially around the four pistons, as Leftcoaster said above. However I did not need to remove the wheel as I was able to remove the caliper bolts, slide the caliper rearward and angle it outward to pass the finder edge. I also did not remove the pads. Pump the lever and the pistons will begin to come out. Mine didn't come out much at first so I sprayed brake parts cleaner all around the piston edges and brushed what I could with a toothbrush. I used a screwdriver to carefully push them back in and repeated the process. Two times each and all four were coming out pretty well so I did it again. Reattach caliper and move to the other side and repeat. When I got it all back together, I sat on the bike and pumped the lever and within three pumps I had good brake pressure. If you don't open the system, there is no need to bleed after you're done. The entire process took about 20 minutes. Hope this helps.

 

I had to do this too when I first got my bike. I'm glad it worked out for you and welcome to the forums!!

 

There's only one fix for the front brake problem you describe. Brake line bleeding will likely not do the trick. H-D brake calipers from your model year need periodic rebuilding. If the brake lever had excessive travel before engaging the front brakes and goes almost all the way to the hand grip when squeezed without strongly applying the brakes then caliper cleaning/rebuild will definitely improved the brake lever feel and response.

Pull off the calipers (FYI, metric bolts attach caliper to fork) without removing the wheel or disconnecting the hydraulic line. Put a piece of wood between the pads and pump the brake lever to move the pistons out so that they can be easily gripped and removed after splitting caliper. If you spilt the caliper and try removing the pistons with compressed air it will be tricky because one piston will easily pop out first but then you will need to cover that empty piston bore (and the two open fluid passages) with fingers and palms to prevent all the compressed air from rushing out. H-D sells a special tool for this procedure, but it can be done without it.

Used a bottle of spray brake cleaner to clean up all the brake parts. H-D seal kit (#44315-00, $7.88 ea.) has all the rubber seals and o-rings needed as well as a packet of the correct silicone grease for the pistons and bore walls. If the pistons are in good shape after clean-up they didn't need replacing. Also, you may get away with reusing the brake line banjo bolt washers but better to order up new ones. Lube the pad pins and top of the anti-rattle clip with caliper lube from a car disc brake rebuild kit although this was not mentioned in the service manual. Torque all bolts to service manual spec. Add new brake fluid and bleed lines. Speed bleeders would definitely make this easier.

The H-D caliper design for 2000-2007? lacks a rubber dust boot on the pistons which lets dirt and crud in to build up on the piston walls and bores. Sooner or later the pistons will stop moving freely! This job can be done with standard shop tools and equipment in an afternoon.
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Thinking about just going ahead and doing a Brembo conversion.

 

Garemlin, it's your bike and your money, but cleaning and/or rebuilding is both cost effective and easy.
Converting to Brembos?....not so much.

Also: Fender mounts must be different for individual bikes because I've done several (from different years going back to '95) and have never been able to remove either front caliper without at least removing the front axle.

 

If you spread the pads the caliper will come off without removing the wheel. I have seen caliper movement when someone replaced the stock caliper bolts with a chrome bolt. More times than not chrome bolts don't have a shoulder and they will start walking when using the brakes.

 

Lot of good advice right here. Having owned 2 2004 Road Kings with the same issue you describe I would first flush and replace the old fluid. Next clean the caliper pistons. If I remember Lyndall Brakes might have a tutorial on this. Back in 05 or 06 Lyndall is the one who advised me to clean the calipers and the brakes were again nice and firm with minimal lever travel. The factory pads create a LOT of dust and crud and if you switch to a different uality brake pad like Lyndall this problem will likely never return.