Edit to title, Swing-Back check and adjustment, not Swing-Away, I was thinking Fall-Away when I typed it and didn't notice until I posted it.

Anyone ever done this with there Rushmore model (particularly a Road Glide)? I just finished this after re-greasing the steering head bearing at my 25k service (bearing were in great condition, but definitely needed some new grease, there was barely any grease on them. I found doing the adjustment to be a tedious task when compared to the simpler method used on my past Dyna. Video's found on-line are help full, but they all use a fork mounted fairing (I could not find one using a frame mounted fairing), which make the adjustment seem easy and makes one think the swing-back wouldn't be as stiff as it is when performed on a frame mounted fairing bike, giving some false expectations. Needles to say, the service manual is a bit elementary, but it does accomplish the goal with a little time and patients.

 

How do other motorcycle manufacturers recommend adjusting the head bearing? This fall back/off crap seems so primitive.

 

I know, it's a complete Cluster F doing this with a fairing. The fairing really has to be put back exactly as it was to get the proper "swing" which makes doing this an infinitely long task. Can't there just be a torque spec? I went through hours following the procedure and when I took it for a ride, it felt way too loose. I then just tweaked it a "bit" tighter by the seat of the pants procedure and all has been well for a year or so.

 

Yea, that was another frustrating issue, the fact that the manual says you need to be a OEM setup. Change your bars out, you’re out of spec, change your wind screen, out of spec, grips, or in my case with the Road Glide, removed the OEM riser, plastic gauge housing, bars, grips, wires and replaced with a whole different setup, you’re not ever gonna be back within OEM specs. No details given as to an possible swing-back spec changes when weight of the setup changes permanently. Although I get that the OEM setup specs call for a range around 5.6” on a RG and around 1.9” (I believe) on a SG, I can speculate that since the SG has a lot of weight factored into the swing-back due to all the fairing equipment mounted to the forks is the reason the specs are much closer. Since my setup is slightly heavier than the OEM setup, I put my adjustments towards the shorter end of the specs rather than the longer end. I have test road the bike, increasing speed 10mph at a time and then putting very little (pretty much none) on the bars and let the bike coast down in speed to see if it started to wobble at all do to the neck being to loose. This process does get a bit nerve racking when you get up past 50-60, knowing that if a wobble does start is isn’t gonna be easy to get out of. But I got all the way up to 90 and never had the slightest wobble issue. So as far as the swing-back being to loose, it doesn’t appear to be for the speeds I travel at. Now for it being to tight, I know that I am still within the specs outlined in the book so in theory I should be good. However there is a nice curvy road I love to ride, so soon I will test the bike here to make sure it handles as expected when carving up turns, then it will be a matter
of hitting highway curves at highway speeds.

 

I bought a used 2012 Ulta Classic last Nov. On the test ride, I could tell the neck bearings were way too tight. I got the bike home and did the swing test, which confirmed my suspicion. I pulled the outer fairing, loosened the adjuster nut with a tool I made per the shop manual. Put it back together and it handles very well. I have never performed a fall away or swing test, exactly per the shop manual. I perform an improvised test and adjust based on that. And yes, the newer bikes with fairings are a pain in the butt to do. Adjust, ride, and re-adjust as needed.

 

The fall away test works fine if you have an empty frame and steering head. The cables and fluid lines create enough friction to prevent the test from being reliable or repeatable. I ended up just doing mine by "feel". I tightened it to where I thought it should be, test rode it (with the fairing left off) and then adjusted accordingly until I didn't feel any drag but the front end didn't "wobble" at low speed with my hands off the bars.