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[bakon]

No zerk to lube neck bearings. New procedure at 25k to disassemble. Really?

[grc]

No zerk to lube neck bearings. New procedure at 25k to disassemble. Really?

Yes.  Now the Touring bikes require the same sort of steering head bearing service as the other bikes, basically removing the front end, removing the bearings, cleaning and inspecting the bearings and the races, packing the bearings with grease, and then reassembling and adjusting the preload.  The schedule is every 25,000 miles, and I assume many bikes will never receive this service.

Give them another century and if they survive, they might figure out how the auto industry was able to eliminate all this disassembly, inspection, and repacking of bearings several decades ago. 

Jerry

[mark]

Out of curiosity, if labor is $100/hr, how much would it cost to have this maintenance performed?  I'm guessing about $400?  Sure, with a service manual I could do this at home, but what a PITA.  Seems removing the fitting was a step backwards...unless of course one was trying to figure out a way to increase maintenance costs???

[tdkkart]

Out of curiosity, if labor is $100/hr, how much would it cost to have this maintenance performed?  I'm guessing about $400?  Sure, with a service manual I could do this at home, but what a PITA.  Seems removing the fitting was a step backwards...unless of course one was trying to figure out a way to increase maintenance costs???

I'd agree with the $400 number.
But, if you're gonna pay $400 labor, and have the bearings out in your hand midway through, why wouldn't you just replace the $20 worth of bearings??

I can guarantee there's gonna be a lot of people that get charged for this service and don't get it done.  Yes, I said that.

Mine might not get done, but at least I won't be paying for it.

[grc]

It's really a huge step backward, but on the other hand the system that allowed people to just pump a little grease into the cavity between the two bearings once in awhile wasn't very good either.  Unless you have a high volume grease pump, like an air operated unit, often people stopped pumping as soon as excess grease started to show at the lower end.  There was no guarantee you really got the top bearing effectively lubed.  And with the ancient design, there are no seals to keep the grease in and contaminants out, so you need to pump an excessive amount of grease into the cavity to assure flushing all the old grease and contamination out of the system and replacing it with clean fresh stuff.  I think we can safely assume that wasn't done often, since no one wants to clean up almost a full tube of grease from the steering head and lower fork bracket.

Since they don't want to join the modern world and come up with a maintenance free sealed bearing system, actually removing the bearings so you can clean and inspect both the bearings and the races is at least theoretically a better idea than just making people believe they are accomplishing much by pumping grease into a cavity.

JMHO - Jerry

[grc]

Out of curiosity, if labor is $100/hr, how much would it cost to have this maintenance performed?  I'm guessing about $400?  Sure, with a service manual I could do this at home, but what a PITA.  Seems removing the fitting was a step backwards...unless of course one was trying to figure out a way to increase maintenance costs???

I haven't seen a labor time standard for the RushedMore bikes, but Harley listed 3.2 hours on the older Touring models to remove and replace steering head bearings and adjust preload.  I doubt any dealership would do it for less than 4 hours on a customer paid service.

Jerry

[tdkkart]

We can get 100,000+mi out of wheel bearings on a 3/4 ton 4x4 truck, but we can't get 25k out of motorcycle head bearings??

[grc]

We can get 100,000+mi out of wheel bearings on a 3/4 ton 4x4 truck, but we can't get 25k out of motorcycle head bearings??

    The auto industry did away with all those remove/inspect/repack/replace kinds of maintenance items decades ago.  They also eliminated all the grease fittings on light duty vehicles and went strictly with sealed joints and bearings.  But we have to remember that H-D resisted even going with sealed wheel bearings until the 21st century rolled around.  Progress comes very slowly in Milwaukee.

Jerry

[sadunbar]

We can get 100,000+mi out of wheel bearings on a 3/4 ton 4x4 truck, but we can't get 25k out of motorcycle head bearings??

lol....  Some touring bikes don't get 25,000 miles out of wheel bearings!   

[moscooter]

 
One could speculate on why this change was made.   Clearly, many in the past of changes have been made because of (union wages).....being above and beyond what would otherwise be the case.  To counter that,  Harley (as well as many other manufactorers).......seek ways to reduce the "build time" per unit.

A classic reason that the crank bearings of yesteryear were eliminated..........too much "set up" time which relates to $$$$ expense per unit.

In this case,  I cannot believe drilling/tapping a hole and inserting a "zerk" was (time/expense wise) enought to bother with.

So,  what else could possibly be the reason...........I'm not buying that it was to (give the dealerships another good labor charge) cause not that many will or would ever ask to have that done.

So.............Maybe the Company lawyers entered into this (change).   The (old front end wobble) problem that has been an on-going Tour model problem for years.........They could use the (lack of) recommended maintenance of the head bearings and "fall off", etc.   to have been a major cause in why you and your Harley went down.

[Twolanerider]

I still can't believe no one has ever sourced a sealed bearing and race combination.....  It's not like these things swing over much of an arc or bear that much of a load.

[bakon]

All valid points and ideas.

I have got less than 25 k out of a 2010 front wheel bearing.

The new swing back measurement is different too. Marking tape on the wheel, ect. Not the old Let the bars go and 2 1/2 swings your good way....

[Ridgerunr]

The guy that got 100K on his 4X4 was lucky. I got may be 50K on mine and when the sealed wheel bearing failed, had to buy a hub= $600.00 parts and labor. The sealed wheel bearings in my Roadglide went at around 45,000 miles, prior to that the tapered roller bearings in my wheels never failed. I repacked them every tire change. For me so called sealed bearings are not maintenance free. Need to be inspected at tire changes. As for the neck bearings I used a hand pump on my last 2 baggers, each had over 100,000 miles when I lost track of them with the neck bearings being OK. YMMV. I would look at drilling and tapping for a zerk.