Somewhere around 8 to 10K miles my ’08 Electra Glide developed what felt like a frame flex. I would notice it whenever the bike was leaned over and I hit a bump.

Last summer at around 10K to 12K miles on a 70mph curve I hit one nasty bump hidden in the shadows. The bike went into a wobble, but pulled itself out after a couple of oscillations.

My fix at the time was to sacrifice ride quality and increase the shock air pressure.

At 10K miles, without disconnecting the clutch cable, I had checked the number of front wheel oscillations. It was 3. This was more then I remembered at 0 miles, but still to spec and besides checking the stem bearings was a 20K mile check.

In February I talked to mechanics at both Twin Cities HD and Faribault HD in MN. After explaining my symptoms the conversation went like this:

• How many miles on the bike? 17K
• The swing arm should be OK. Do you have spoke wheels? NO
• Who does your maintenance? ME
• Did you check your steering stem bearings? NO

So this spring I pulled the outer shell of the fairing off and pulled the clutch cable off … still 3 oscillations.

I was committed to tighten the bearing anyway at this point. To adjust them the fog lamps needed to be removed and a decorative chrome shield between the two forks had to be taken off.

This last part was the secret. The wheel oscillations went to 4+. The wiring harness had been touching the chrome shield and dampening the wheel oscillations.

I tighten the bearings to spec. For the last 1K miles I have not felt that flex in bumpy turns even with the shock pressure down. I have not hit one of those “knock the wind out of you bumps” in a curve yet to say if that wobble was cured or not, but I am satisfied with the results.

BTW, both shops were aware of the aftermarket braces and both said that I should not need one.

$3 was the cost of the cheap screw driver that I modified to adjust my stem bearing nut.

***5/13 Edit Follows***

It looks like I touched a sore point with some.

When I wrote this post, I was trying to pass on some knowledge. I was amazed on the positive affect that properly adjusted steering head bearings had on my every day riding.

I rechecked my manual this morning. Steering head bearing adjustment is recommended at 25,000 miles. Mine needed adjustment at 10,000 miles.

The second thing that I wanted to pass on was the influence that the main harness had on “swing momentum” – HD’s terminology. I called it wheel oscillations – hang me. My ’08 manual states: “If the clutch cable or main harness appears to be influencing swing momentum, proceed as follows:” This is a weak statement. I did not think much of it at first. I stand corrected. If you want to properly adjust your steering head bearings, eliminate the drag of the main wiring harness.

On my FLHTC, removing PN 58208-96A (skirt, outer fairing) freed the main harness from influencing swing momentum.

The $3 tool was put in the post to catch your attention. Figure 1-42 in the ’08 touring service manual shows the bearing adjuster tool I made from a long handled screw driver.

I obviously do not know if the one serious wobble that I had would have been eliminated by the bearing adjustment. That wobble took a serious bump (hidden in the shadows and big enough to knock the wind out of me) to set it off. I do my best to avoid these bumps.

And all along I thought that I was going to get crap for praising the mechanics at two local HD dealers.

 

Good post OD. I wonder how many members go to the trouble to check the steering head bearings properly ,the way you did, before dropping big cash for a stabilizer. $3.00 beats $300 any day. That $297 savings converts to about 120 gallons of gas, or almost 5000 miles of riding on my bike. Good tip.

 

Can you show some picture of how and where exactally to look of this fix? Might even become a "Sticky"

 

Yup. Always check the simple stuff first and do the easy stuff before spending big $$$$. How many times have we all spent some serious coin only to find that we haven't adressed the root cause of the problem. My 02 Glide hasn't developed the wobble/shake/shimmy or other strange handling issues that many have reported. If it does, the last thing I will do is spend $300 for a nice shiny band-aid!

 

oscillations ?????

 

Those dummys at Harley went and changed the frame and mounts when all they had to do was adjust the neck bearings! No wonder they are losing money!

 

Well that explains it. HD wasted a ton of R&D redesigning the frame when all they need was a cheap screwdriver and $3 bucks. Sheeessshh.......I bet it was because they didn't have the $3 bucks, whatcha think?

Hilarious................

 

A $3.00 fix for some... but it doesn't change the fact that Harley ABSOLUTELY, POSITIVELY needed to change their touring frame design. And they should have done it long ago. Years back (before I even started motorcycles again), I was told by a Harley engineer friend of mine about the inherent flaw in the chassis design on those bikes. I didn't really understand what he was talking about because I had never ridden Harleys... always had dual sport/trail bikes back then. Anyway, after getting back into riding I aquired a '93 E-Glide and quickly got accustomed to it. It wasn't long before I started to notice the rear-end steer when going around high-speed sweeping turns that had bumps or waves in the pavement (on perfectly smooth road surfaces I never experience the wobble... b/c the suspension has to be activated to initiate the wobble or rear-end steer). It was NO figment of my imagination... it was quite obvious. Even after replacing the rubber swingarm bushings and checking everything related to the chassis and suspension the wobble still existed, but to a much lesser degree. Those bushings do go bad and a visual inspection isn't always enough. If they are old or have alot of miles on them, just replace them. It does help... and makes for safer riding.

 

Its a proceedure in the maintenance manual to check the neck bearings. I don't remember the whole thing, but the bike has to be lifted up level until the front wheel is off the ground. Center the front wheel and let it go. It should oscillate from side to side a number of times. I think 3 times minimum or something like that.

Beary

 

Here's me and a buddy headed to Sturgis. I fixed mine with some bamboo sticks JB welded together.