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I've got a 04 Ultra that seems to have some steering bearing problems. If you are walking the bike and grab the front brake quickly, you can see the bars/trees "rotate" in the neck slightly. Funny thing is, it passes a fall away test, but I know those are pretty un-reliable.
Anyway, I've heard of the top nut loosing it's tightness on some models. Not sure if the FLHT's are part of this or not. Long story short: Do you think it's worth messing with, or just bite the bullet and change the bearings? I normally wouldn't be worried about it, but on the Ultra it is going to take FOREVER to pull all the crap off necessary to get to the bearings. (Unless someone knows a shortcut???)
Get the front wheel elevated slightly, get in front of it and see if you can pull it forward to check for play in the bearings. If the bearings have play in them, you could try to adjust them but the races will probably have brinelling and the bearings will
need to be replaced.
OK, so I'm in the middle of tearing this apart, and I've got something strange I need help on:
I pulled the forks and the radio to get at the bearing nut. Pulled that off as well as the lock plate, expecting to see the adjuster underneath. The only thing is, it's under the upper tree, and the upper tree is free to flop around! That's the issue I was having that started this whole thing: When you grabbed the front brakes, the handlebars and everything would jerk forward.
I can feel the star nut adjuster underneath the top tree, but shouldn't it be concentrically located to the pivot shaft????
Manual doesn't have any type of exploded parts diagaram or ANYTHING related to the upper tree to explain. Need some help ASAP!
Its in the correct place. The lock plate keys to upper tree and bends around nut to secure it. The adjustment is under the upper tree. Be sure to understand the fall away setting. You should not just tighten the nut unless you are a expert and done a lot. The bike will handle better if its at the proper preload on the bearings.(fall away setting) Just having all the play out will give a loose fill to the bike and be bad on the bearings causing the inner race to wear convex which pretty soon you cannot get the fall away setting correct. Too tight will probable mess up the bearings and give the steering a tight filling causing over steer
Last edited by Jackie Paper; Jun 26, 2010 at 10:19 PM.
The adjuster nut is loose. I can get my finger in there and move it around by hand. Funny thing is, the bike has always passed the fall-away test.
At this point, my main concern is the top tree being located properly. Possibly the top nut was not tightened down properly? I pulled it off with a 3/4" drive ratchet, and didn't pay much attention to how hard it was to break free.
One thing I have never really understood about the fall away it Harley says to loosen the fork stem pinch bolts on the lower slider tubes on some bikes. Adjust fall away and retighten them and recheck. They are not talking about the stem nut adjuster. Also after doing some more picture searching I realize on some bikes the adjuster is the top bolt on the tree. It appears there is a side pinch bolt for this bolt to hold it. Did you see this on your bike? Are you sure what is loose is the adjust nut. It could be just the dust cover for the top bearing. Is what is loose have spanner wrench slots???
Last edited by Jackie Paper; Jun 27, 2010 at 10:34 AM.
Another thing to check is if the steering head bearings (especially the lower one) are brinelled, if so this can lead to weird handling and it happened to me on a BMW. There is false vs. true brinelling but in any case if the bearing races have indentations the bearings need to be replaced.
The pinch bolts on the lower part of the tree need to be loosened so the lower part can slide down the fork tube as the adjustment is made, otherwise the top and bottom parts of the tree will be bent as the adjustment is made. Tighten the adjuster that is under the upper tree part until there is no more play as you describe. Swing the steering each way and if it is smooth, you lucked out and won't need to replace the bearings, just give them a grease job through the factory installed fitting on the frame fork tube. If you feel roughness in the steering swing, the bearings have been damaged and should be replaced. If you are asking about how the parts are arranged and about all of the steps, your manual is inadequate and you would be better off having a shop do the job or get a better manual. The factory manual has great pictures (if it is as complete as my 08 manual) and describes all of the steps.
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Steering head bearing adjustment or replacement?
