HarleyTechTalk

There is no easy way to grease the steering head bearings is there?

What bike what year?

On my 1999 FL you connect the grease gun to the nipple on the steering head and pump and pump and pump and pump and pump and eventually the old grease starts to get squeezed out by the new grease. It takes a LOT of grease!

03 Dyna. there's no nipple

Quote from: trex on May 04, 2017, 10:46:20 AM
03 Dyna. there's no nipple

Then no, it needs to be disassembled far enough to get access to the bearings.
Ron

Has anybody greased those bearings since 2003?
No wonder you have to do it now!
Buy a grease nipple, the correct size drill and the correct size tap.
Take the forks out.
Drill and tap for the nipple in a suitable place.
Grease the bearings.
Put the forks back and then you need to try and find something to fill in some of that blank space inside the steering head so it doesn't take a complete cartridge of grease to grease the bearings.

The bearings were replaced about 5-6 years ago

Quote from: PC_Hater on May 04, 2017, 10:58:07 AM
Has anybody greased those bearings since 2003?
No wonder you have to do it now!
Buy a grease nipple, the correct size drill and the correct size tap.
Take the forks out.
Drill and tap for the nipple in a suitable place.
Grease the bearings.
Put the forks back and then you need to try and find something to fill in some of that blank space inside the steering head so it doesn't take a complete cartridge of grease to grease the bearings.

Carefull there..... you may end up greasing the entire inside of the frame. The neck may be open inside.....

I'll probably get flamed for this , but

The only proper way to grease a tapered roller bearing is to take it out and force grease between the rollers.

my 2005 Deuce has a grease nipple,I used a grease gun.

Quote from: Wicked on May 04, 2017, 11:13:32 AM

Quote from: PC_Hater on May 04, 2017, 10:58:07 AM
Has anybody greased those bearings since 2003?
No wonder you have to do it now!
Buy a grease nipple, the correct size drill and the correct size tap.
Take the forks out.
Drill and tap for the nipple in a suitable place.
Grease the bearings.
Put the forks back and then you need to try and find something to fill in some of that blank space inside the steering head so it doesn't take a complete cartridge of grease to grease the bearings.

Carefull there..... you may end up greasing the entire inside of the frame. The neck may be open inside.....

Yes a lot of the frames are open to the tubes, I have heard that you can seal them with silicone,  but never done it. You would want to do this with the bearings out. Love my softail with the factory zirt.

Quote from: pddredduece on May 04, 2017, 11:16:57 AM
my 2005 Deuce has a grease nipple,I used a grease gun.

Good for you

Quote from: trex on May 04, 2017, 04:39:11 PM

Quote from: pddredduece on May 04, 2017, 11:16:57 AM
my 2005 Deuce has a grease nipple,I used a grease gun.

Good for you

Oh, how many times I have wanted to respond that way!   

QuotePut the forks back and then you need to try and find something to fill in some of that blank space inside the steering head so it doesn't take a complete cartridge of grease to grease the bearings.

I've heard of guys cutting up coke cans to seal the head in dynas, never seen it though.

Ah hell,I'll just suck up and drop the wheel, forks and do it

With my Dyna, I just jack the bike up a bit on the lift and drop the forks enough that i can get my fingers on the lower bearings and slather the grease on. Top bearing is simple.  I did a friend's 93 with 50K +  that he bought new and swears it was never greased. There was still some grease on the bearings and race, everything felt smooth. He's still riding it.
ADDED:  The hardest part of the Dyna bearing greaseing, is doing the "fall away" procedure for the front wheel. A PIA time wise.

Quote from: Breeze on May 05, 2017, 04:00:55 AM
With my Dyna, I just jack the bike up a bit on the lift and drop the forks enough that i can get my fingers on the lower bearings and slather the grease on. Top bearing is simple.  I did a friend's 93 with 50K +  that he bought new and swears it was never greased. There was still some grease on the bearings and race, everything felt smooth. He's still riding it.
ADDED:  The hardest part of the Dyna bearing greaseing, is doing the "fall away" procedure for the front wheel. A PIA time wise.

Did you keep the forks connected to the lower triple tree and just loose the pinch bolts on the top tree?

Well that was not bad. Took a little over an hour and I was able to grease both top and bottom. First just loosened the bottom pinch bolts and pinch bolt for the big bolt and tapped the steering shaft down and Exposed the bottom bearing. It looks good,greased it then tried to raise it back. That raised the top out so I greased it but couldn't get everything back together so took the wheel off and no problem.

Quote from: trex on May 05, 2017, 12:00:34 PM
Well that was not bad. Took a little over an hour and I was able to grease both top and bottom. First just loosened the bottom pinch bolts and pinch bolt for the big bolt and tapped the steering shaft down and Exposed the bottom bearing. It looks good,greased it then tried to raise it back. That raised the top out so I greased it but couldn't get everything back together so took the wheel off and no problem.

I'll say it, Hoss.  Good for you.

Quote from: trex on May 05, 2017, 08:53:40 AM
quote]                                                                                                             Did you keep the forks connected to the lower triple tree and just loose the pinch bolts on the top tree?

Sorry, I wasn't back on the forum until now. Good on you for getting it done.