With all the doodads made for our bikes, you'd figure some smart person would come up with a rubber outer seal that wraps around the lower race and fastens somehow (velcro?) to keep the grease in it, rather than leaking down onto the fender.

BTW I used a high temp grease in mine, and while it does squeeze a little out around the lower bearing, I stay on top of it, wiping it every so often, and I've not had any drips to the fender yet.

 

The manual says adjust (not lube) at 1,000 miles, then lube at 10,000 mile intervals, but it also says to disassemble, lubricate and inspect every 30,000 miles...

Here`s my take on this:

If you disassemble and lube the steering head bearings according to the service manual interval, there is no need to pump the steering head full of grease, it just makes a huge mess to clean out when you disassemble the steering head.

 

Are you sure you read Table 37 correctly?

My 2012 Softail Owners manuals states to adjust the steering head bearings at 1000 miles and then at every 10,000 miles. It specifies to lubricate the steering head bearings every 10,000 miles starting at the 10,000 mile service. The footnote states to disassemble, lubricate and inspect the bearings every 30,000 miles.

If your "trusted mechanic" went by the book, I'll bet he adjusted the bearings, not lubricated them.

If your manual states to lubricate the steering head bearings every 1,000 miles, I'd like to see a picture of the table.

The chassis lubrication page just states to lubricate at the recommended interval and refers you to the service interval table.


EDIT: Sorry Dan... I overlooked your post when I replied

 

right, cause most of us do that all the time. come on, i can appreciate the difference in opinion on this thread but the original question was: is this grease seeping normal? and so far the answer is yes. if you grease the thing by taking the entire bike apart or if you grease it through the zerk fitting it is irrelevant.

 

The original question was answered by posts 2,3,4,5. Did anyone disagree?

I`ll add my answer to the pile: Yes, it is normal for grease to drip out of a steering head when you pump it chock full of grease...

A thread doesn`t always end when the question has been answered, sometimes it gets a discussion going.

If you grease it with the fitting, you have a steering head full of grease.

If you disassemble, inspect and lube every 30 thousand miles in accordance with the factory service manual, you will only have grease on the bearings, and not on your fender.

 

i completely understand, and i am not disagreeing. i was just trying to lighten the mood...

 

Jersey, if you look around in some of the other posts regarding this subject, you will see that some folks have had problems with the grease dripping out for long periods of time, that is why I`m not a fan of using the grease fitting, at least not with the present configuration.

 

i now understand that, but it's too late for me. i saw the fitting and lubbed her up... i used thicker grease than factory so hopefully it won't be so bad.

 

Bone Doc,

Ooops, You are correct, I accidentally left out a zero.

You are also correct about the adjust at 1000 miles. My mechanic made a special note that he ALSO lubed as well as adjusted the steering head, at the 1000 miles service. He told me to keep an eye at the base and wipe excess grease if and when it oozed out. It appears my mechanic did NOT need to LUBE the bearings, but at least he advised and did not charge extra:-) I assumed wrongly this lube was also required, but possibly necessary due to my minimal "bobber" front fender?

I did not realize people were having problems with grease on the fender and that was the reason for not wanting to use the grease fitting.

I have run my Slim without a fender part of the time, so I like having the ability to easily and quickly add fresh grease where dirt can easily penetrate. (Kind of like my Tailwheel). A grease fitting is ancient technology @1929, and almost quicker to use than checking tire pressure.

Steve

 

So, being this thread’s the least dead and youngest of all others regarding steering bead lube’s do’s and dont’s. I hope bringing it up won’t annoy the ones with little patience regarding basic maintanence, as apposed to real maintanence
But as you might have all guessed by now is that I did lube. And used the fitting haha.
Also used the Lucas thick red **** that’s high temp.
Also read this entire thread, luckily it wasn’t too long hehe.
BTW I have a manual for my 2014 Slim and it states the obvious as was already dis ussed.
Inspect at 1k first maint. check, lube at first 10k and no where does my manual says to dissasemble at 30k. Is that because they finally concluded that if you grease fitting as per 2014 manual intrvals, that disassembly is no
longer necessary?
And also, for those opposed to greezing the fitting in lieu it will create a mess during the ride as well upon disassembly...
Do you dissasemble the fork every 10k mi to inspect bearings and races? Or just wait and not lube through fitting at all, and just wait for your next 30k mi interval and disassemble?
Sounds like
a lot more work than just wiping the goo off after a ride to me