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Question on Greasing the Steering Head Bearing

21K views 32 replies 21 participants last post by  baldwookie 
#1 ·
A friend of mine who is mechanic who works on construction equipment loaned me his battery operated grease gun with a flexible shaft so I could grease my steering head bearings. I told him I was going to go to Harley and buy the special purpose grease and he said nonsense. He said he had some grease that would work better than any other grease and gave me a tube of Maxi-Lube Heavy Duty NLGI #2 Multi-purpose Grease, H2. Made by Chemsearch.
What do you guys think? Would you use it or go buy the Harley special purpose grease?

PDF file from Chemsearch:
http://www.chemsearch.net.au/Product Technical Specification/Maxilube.pdf

Says on tube to avoid mixing with clay or bentonite greases. Not sure what is in the bike from the factory. I can't find any data or specs on the Harley special purpose grease. And from what I hear, the bike comes from the factory empty as it supposedly takes about a full tube to fill it up at the 1000 mile service.
 
#2 ·
I think this is one of those like oil, and transmission fluid. Your local HD should have the msds sheet on their products. Tha will give you the information. I bought their grease and love the zert fitting my old bike I would have to pack the bearing by hand.
 
#3 ·
If it was wheel bearings it would make some difference, but for steering head bearings it really doesn't matter as long as there is something in there called grease.
Harley doesn't "specially formulate" anything, they send out the specs they want to potential bidders and whoever sends back the low bid on a product that meets the specs gets the job, that's how it works in big business.
If your buddy's grease holds up the the riggers of construction equipment, your steering head bearings will be just fine.
 
#5 ·
You can use any multi-purpose bearing grease. Some bikes dont even have any grease in them from the factory. Theses arent bearings that spin at high rates of speed like wheel bearings, they move a few degrees to left and right. You wont need anything fancy in them to keep them lubricated
 
#8 ·
The grease fitting on my RG with 915 miles looks clean as a whistle. No evidence of grease or dust or anything stuck to it. Makes me think that no one has put grease in it yet. Waiting for my two kids to go to bed then I'm going out to the garage to complete part of the 1000 mile service. It is supposed to get back into the 60's at some point this week. I'll go for a ride and change the fluids, go over bolts, etc.
 
#11 ·
TEAG
Please follow up after a while and let us know if you see any gobs of grease oozoi out days, weeks or months later. i think you were lucky scoring an electric grease gun with a full tube. Pump away! When you see grease starting to ooze out giver a few more to be sure you pushed all new grease through those bearings. You may never have to lube again considering what moco factory ships them out like.

I can not find a nipple on my '05. Any suggestions?

enjoy the ride
HRD
 
#13 ·
I used Lucas Red and Tacky about 5k miles ago - no mess whatsoever even after my 2300 mile Sturgis trip. On a side note, I pumped quite a bit but could never get it to squeeze out from the top bearing ... just kept coming out from the bottom. Anyone else have this issue?
 
#15 ·
What, wheres the Amsoil guys. Surprised they aren't jumping in here claiming how your steering will lockup and the bearings will seize if you use anything but their grease.

Pick your favorite color of grease and squirt it in there till it oozes out of the upper and lower cups. You'll have to wipe it off a few times after some riding but that perfectly normal.
 
#22 ·
the bearings are greased from the factory, though before installation, so the neck is empty. doesn't mean the bearings weren't greased. like someone else mentioned, these bearings are not subjected to a lot of high speed rotation so i'm not gonna mess with them until absolutely necessary.

i did the 'pump it til it comes out the top and bottom' thing on my sportster back in 2003. i still have grease oozing out of it. :eek:
 
#23 ·
Thats Exactly what i think will happen. Everytime I see this topic in a thread I think its one of those things that you wish you never did. Especially if you live in a hot area. So on that.:D I'm out.
 
#26 ·
After about 40 pumps I started talking to a friend there with me and not paying as much attention to the grease but kept pumping and the next thing I see is grease squeezing out all over top and bottom. After. about a half hour of clean up, all's been well since and never see any grease trying to squeeze out.
 
#27 ·
By the way. You mean you didn't use moco grease? You don't think the moco opened a grease making factory for shits and grins do ya? :D
I used a quality bearing grease that I buy from the auto parts store.
 
#29 ·
The deed is done.

I pumped almost a standard tube of synthetic grease into steering head of my RGU this afternoon. Maybe 3/4 of the tube.

Finally got squeeze out at top and bottom.


It's a bit nerve-wracking because of the volume of grease that it takes.
I stopped part-way through and called the Service Manager at my dealers to see if they knew how much it should hold.

Well, they didn't, because they only put a few squirts in.
Seems that they used to get complaints about grease where it shouldn't be, so they just stopped doing it according to the SM.

Of course, what they're doing accomplishes absolutely nothing---but this is in line with the other servicing practices I've seen there--which is why I'm now doing my own.
 
#32 ·
I haven't had any of the grease I used drip on anything. I did wipe off the excess. I had grease come out of the bottom and top of the bearing. I used about the whole tube of grease that was in the gun. And lastly...having the battery powered grease gun was sweeeeeeet!!!! That would have been a lot of pumping (that's what she said?).
 
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