Neck bearings

Anyone know how I can check for tightness in my StreetGlides neck bearings ? (Fallaway Test)

Hi HRK, How'bout filling me in on how to do Fall Away check. THx

Thanks BROTHER !

Thanx Bro. I appreciate the help

Read your repair manual. It tells how to, and it has nothing to do with swings or bounces.
Leo

He called you "Brother". You should be honored, I AM his brother and you should hear what he calls me!

Unfortunatly you have to remove all the cables and wires since they will hinder the "fall away" test. The manual kinda says this.

I don't know about 2009 FLHX but it may be close enough to my 98 RK.... I removed the main nut and removed the top plate that holds the handle bars. I laid it all down on the tank to get it out of the way so that it had no influence on the steering kneck and did the fall away test like this. The adjuster nut is exposed at this point and it is easy to tighten and loosen the nut as you feel the way the steering head turns. The fall away test worked perfectly in this condition. Then I put it all back together again and it feels great.

If you get it taken apart this far you should try to work some grease into the top bearing since it doesn't have a grease fitting for the top one.

G-luk

The procedure for checking steering head bearings on touring models is called "Swing By" and is only used on touring models. This procedure is used because all FL models have a negative fork tube offset, the fork tubes are positioned behind the steering stem. This creates a pendulum motion and is the reason the front end will somewhat center itself on it's own. This design accomplished two things. It allowed for a steeper rake angle of 28 degrees which made these heavy bikes more nibble turning at low speed, but they had to make sure they were stable at high speed. To accomplish this you need more trail. By positioning the fork tubes behind the steering stem, This moved the axle back in the the wheel base and created trail of just over 6".

All other Harley models have a positive fork tube offset, fork tubes are positioned ahead of the steering stem. These front ends will not center themselves. The procedure used on these models to set the steering head bearings is called "Fall Away", and is an actual measured dimension. With this procedure it is usually necessary to remove the clutch cable as it creates resistance in the fall away movement. In any case, when you make an adjustment, everything has to be reassembled and the stem nut torqued to spec to properly check for correct adjustment.

Now as far as adjusments on the FL's, models prior to 08' are set at 2 1/2 swings. A service bullentin came out on June 10 2009. The procedure for 09" and newer touring models are as follows.

Model Min Swings Max Swings
FLTR 1 2
FLHR, FLHRC 2 3
FLHX, FLHT, FLHTC,FLHTCU 3 4

If there is a newer service bulletin, I have not seen it.

Both the service manual and the bulletin state that if the clutch cable or wiring harness impede the swinging motion, they must be disconnected to properly adjust the bearings. Keep in mind, after you have made an adjustment the stem nut must be torqued to spec to properly check the swing by count. Also, when you torque the stem nut to spec, you get a condition known as torque stack up, this will actually tighten the bearing a litte more and affect the final adjustment. So you will need to compensate for this when making your adjusments.

Finally, if the bearing is to tight it will interfere with the bikes ability to absorb weave, if it is to loose, it will interfere with bikes ability to absorb wobble, which can result in tank slap.

Good luck and I hope this info helps.

Thank you for all the info. That really explains a lot. I get it now. Thanx