Springer owners...

Did you have all of the previous scheduled maintenance done? I don't have the book in front of me but I know that at 1000 miles you're supposed to check and grease the steering head bearing. Don't know about the 2.5K - 10K maint. But it's likely that it should at least be checked every 2.5K miles.

ive heard that the springer front ends are murder on the steering neck bearings. they require alot more maintenance and adjustment than others.

I ride a Fat Boy with a springer front end and I have the bearings sitting at home right now waiting for me to take the front end off and replace them. The springers don't have any kind of grease fitting on them so once they are in you can not lube them.

Man, that's a pain in the butt effle.

I just purchased an '03 Softail Springer and it does have a grease fitting on the bottom right side of the steering neck. And I believe it talks about inspecting and greasing in the maintenance schedule. I'll have to take a look at my book again.

It's not to hard to "bottom out" a springer front end. The result is dents in the races. With the bike on a lift, turn the bars side to side and you'll feel it. The bars will want to center themselves. You wont feel it with the bike on the ground. Mine is a '90 FXSTS, and I had to run a bead of weld around the race and let it cool to remove them . Major pain in the ass. Watch out for the "big bumps"-- pot holes, RR tracks etc.