I do my own work, I (incorrectly) thought the 1000 mile service had to be done by the dealer. I know a Mechanic there and trust him. He told me he lubed the head set bearings (and checked the steering head torque) and grease would be leaking out for a while.

This way of lubing bearings has been around for over 50 years. NOT a design flaw.
The tail wheel bearings on my '59 Pacer are lubed exactly the same way. Fill the hollow axle with grease until new grease flows out the ends. Fresh grease is now in the bearings. Since I land on dirt tracks and dry lakes, the tail wheel gets VERY dirty.

Someone please tell me why a steering head full of grease is a bad thing?

 

Where are you with the pacer? That is a beautiful bird. I just relocated to Florida and was over looking into rentals by me. Best I can find is a Tecnam Lightsport at $109 wet.

 

The previous shot on a different dry lake in Mojave Desert. Wide open spaces!

Pacer is a great short field plane. I meet up with friends in motorhomes for dirt bike riding, firing weapons and scale rockets. The plane has plenty of space to bring my dog. Not a Harley but a fun bike for the dirt my friend brought along with his bikes.

The Prop blows lots of dust and dirt on the tail wheel. The horizontal bearings that let the tail wheel swivel have a similar grease fitting, and both get plenty of regular servicing, so grease is always oozing like the first steering head shot in this link. Sorry for the thread hijack.

 

Pumping the cavity full is not the only way to get grease into the bearings....

 

What other way is there besides taking the fork off and doing it by hand?

 

My comment about design flaw was in regards to having to pump that whole cavity up with grease before it even starts working through the bearings...not in regards to having to grease bearings in general.

So what's the other way then...disassemble the steering head and hand pack the bearing?

 

That`s the other way...

Most motorcycles don`t have a grease fitting on the steering head.

Fortunately, steering head bearings don`t need to be greased very often.

I have had my `89 FLSTC since new, and I have repacked the steering head bearings once (about 10 years ago), while the fork tubes were removed for seals, springs, bushings etc.

A lot of work to grease two bearings.

The moco could have executed the late model design better, maybe instead of one grease fitting they could have put one at the top and one at the bottom, and use some type of spacer that fills the space in between so there is just enough room for the steering stem to pass through. Just thinkin out loud....

 

On my bike I put a couple wraps of tape around where the grease comes out on the bottom bearing and pump away until the grease comes out the top bearing.


The tape on the bottom is enough to keep the grease in until the top bearing gets greased, and yes when the tape comes off the grease still does leak out the bottom a little

 

I rechecked my 2013 Softail Owners manual.

This manual requires the steering head bearings be lubed every 1000 miles.

Disagree? Fine. My trusted mechanic (at the dealer) went by the book on my 1000 mile service.

There IS a reason for the grease fitting on the frame. Or you can disassemble:-/

Reference: Table 37, Regular Service Intervals. Page 201

And:

Chassis lubrication, Page 111.

 

Get rid of the zerk and maybe people would pay attention to the 30,000 mile service interval instead of thinking they had to grease the bearings every time they serviced the bike.