I've picked up a pretty significant clunk in the front end of my 08 Fat Bob under hard braking or whenever I hit a decent bump in the road. It sounds like it is coming from inside the forks (like it might be a broken spring or something crazy like that), but somewhere in the foggy depths of my memory I seem to recall hearing of similar symptoms being diagnosed as a bad steering head bearing. Any thoughts?

The bike still handles fine. I haven't had the time to tear into the forks yet and look for myself so I thought I'd go fishing for an internet diagnosis.

I've had the Progressive drop-in kit on the bike for about 4000 miles.

 

it sounds like "clunk." if you have manual do the fall away procedure probably just needs to be tightened.

 

I did the "fall away" procedure about 1500 miles ago and got everything adjusted properly (it wasn't far off before that). If it is in fact the bearing, would it make that sound if it were overly loose or tight, or if the bearing itself is/has failed?

 

I would just tighten the bearing more. Sometimes the fall away adjustment doesn't work, you just need to snug it down more. The HD tech at my old dealer used to do it by feel & always felt a little tighter was better as it will loosen up.

 

Straddle your bike holding the front brake. While holding the brake rock the bike back and forth. If you have enough steering head slack to cause a "clunk" you will be able to see/feel movement.

I used this procedure earlier this year and caught movement before I had any symptoms.

 

A "slight clunk" when hitting the front brake, or a bump is most likely the brake pads rattling. Use a small amount of front brake while hitting that bump and you won't hear a thing.

Bwana

 

Russ, There is a new tq spec on the nut. If i remember correctly the old spec was around 45 ft pounds and the new spec is around 100 ft pounds. I adjusted mine up to 75 ft ponds and that did silent the clunk I had that your are describing. I thought 100 ft pounds was way to much for that little bolt.

 

I always set the stearing head a little tighter than recommended in the manual. When I set it as the manual suggests, it feels sloppy and I get a little wobble in the font end. I have NEVER actually seen a stearing head bearing fail. There ain't much wear on them. They should last the life of the bike.

 

Check the tank front mounting bolt.

 

I checked and checked, fall away, tank mount and my stock bike with 37K still does it. I agree with you that it sounds like its coming from inside the shock tube. I changed the oil to Harleys fork E, Had been changed at 20K. Did not use to do this quite so loud. Could it actually be the bushings in the tubes them self worn? I had the front wheel off when I changed the oil and you can not fill any shake. I took a large 14 digital caliper and measured the width at the bottom edge of the lower tree and down were they go into the lower sliders and they are parallel within .001. Pretty amazing considering all the stack up thru the wheel is what controls this. Hope we find the answer. Other then noise it appears there is no problem but I would like mine to just go swish when I hit the bumps. By the way mine does not clunk when I brake hard.

golfblues My softail has the spanner nut with the slots under the top tree which controls the fall away. Harley says also loosen the lower fork clamp bolt. Am I doing the fall away wrong? What nut are you giving 100FT LB?