The manual says to use HD Special Purpose Grease # 99857-97 for the steering head bearings. I already have Castrol Syntec grease in my gun. What do you guys think? Is that going to be ok, or should I get a tube of the HD?

FWIW, I think the bearings weren't fully greased at the 1k service; I now have 6k miles.

 

Hi I used grease for my 99 ultra that wasn't what Harley recomended and when the bike sat in the sun in the summer it melted and ran all over the forks and made a huge mess. It took a couple months before it quit. I used the recomended grease on my 08 ultra and its fine no mess at all. I think its 6 or 7 bucks to avoid a mess .... well worth it to me.

 

Since when do steering head bearings qualify for special HD special grease. The only thing that's worked for me and don't puke all over the place is a synthetic called Motorex 2000 Not expensive either. Here's one of many sources for it.
http://www.solomotoparts.com/catalog...0-p-21975.html
Ron

 

personally, I wouldn't worry about the kind of grease you use, just so you do it every so often. There was another thread about neck bearing grease just the other day... people were suggesting switching to a 45 deg. zerk...to make it easier to get the gun tip on. I think its a 1/4 x 28 thread.

 

Not saying you need to get HD grease but if you use whats recomended by HD then it won't melt and make a mess all over the forks. Not sure why someone needs a tube of $10.00 syn grease for this .... but if it doesnt melt that will work

 

I used tractor supply generic grease.. I have a case of it ... .. Worked fine..

 

Actually it ends up on the tank and engine. If you feel that the HD grease won't do this, by all means use it. I'm not sure it was available when I went through the factory drip out mess when my bike was new. After heat testing for fluid separation on many brands I can only recommend a product that has cured my problem. I'm sure there are others out there.
Ron

 

Exactly.... All I know is once I didn't use what was recomended and had a mess for months...... but when I used what was recomended it worked fine with no mess.... It's not what I feel.. It's what has happened to me. Ride safe

 

I put in a 45degree Zerk and filled it with Valvoline synthetic grease and nothing has leaked out and last summer it was over 100 degrees in Arkansas.

 

So how often should you grease the neck bearings?