If my asss is going to be on it I would go all new neck bearings and races! And while I have the front end off I am taking a serious look at the fork lock catch hardware


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For the bearings to lock up they would have to be exceedingly poor condition. Perhaps nonexistent.
You should have experienced other problems related to bad bearings as well.
Have never heard of them locking up in my 30 odd years of riding HD`s.

I guessing the lock. Repair or replace.

 

Checked the timeline. This fits the timeline for neck bearing with no grease. But it was VRSCAs .... Don't know if it was other models, I know my 03's were rusted completely. Though for me it was a lack of low speed behavior that made me pull it.


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It's probably a bad idea to forget which side is clutch and which side is front brake?

I've had bearings going bad in front and rear and even had headset on old bike start to click when turning side to side and when I took it apart it looked like rusty balls...but no lock up"


Either way good luck and hope you find problem, sounds dangerous

 

Fork lock....

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If I read this right the wheel binds up when you go into a right hand corner.

Seen this before....


Most likely a spacer on the front axle was not reinstalled after a tire change, when you go into that turn the wheel slides over causing the brake disc to drag on the caliper.

- Seem logical?

- Brother B

 

One and done??

 

Thanks for the feed back! Just for clarification, the steering locked up, not the front wheel. The bike only has 5K miles and has been garage kept since new. I feel like if this is bearing related, the bearings would have to be defective when the bike was built or there would have to be something foreign in there. I plan to pull it apart to inspect/replace steering head bearing and fork lock as well. Hopefully, I will find some evidence as to the cause. If not, it may end up a parts bike. If anyone has any additional thoughts, please continue to post. Until I know the cause, I would not sell it to anyone as a bike to ride or ride it myself. I will update this post after disassembly.

Everyone ride safe!!!!!

 

yea I'd pull it apart too, and I dang sure wouldn't ride it till I found the problem

 

Glad to hear you are going to look at it. Let us know what you find out. Never heard of that outside of a fork lock issue. Interesting first ride after you fix it waiting to see if you fixed it..

 

I rode with a rusted out neck bearing for quite some time. It'll stick until centrifugal force straightens out the bars...


If you jack up your bike and the front doesn't fall to the side, (it stays straight ahead) then you're probably experiencing the same situation.

 

in a sweeping right hand turn at that speed you wouldn't be turning your bars to the right. You'd be leaning right and counter steering left. Front brake pressure would cause the bike to stand back up and head towards the left side of the road. Check into what brother B said. You may have a brake issue.

 

Well, that would be the triple clamp steering head bearings.

Jack up the bike so the front end is off the ground. Move the handle bars from one side to another. The motion should be smooth from side to side, one stop to another.

BUT....the amount of motion that occurs here is almost nothing when you are moving. The most common issue here is that a "detent" occurs in the bearings causing a "sticking" or "notch" in the range of motion, usually right in the middle of the swing. Once under way this manifests it's self as a tenancy for the motorcycle to "weave" as you ride in a straight line on a boulevard or highway. Most noticeable at moderate (35 to 45 mph) speeds. This does occur on HD motorcycles but not until a great many miles have passed under it's wheels under most circumstances.

Also, the steering lock is fully retracted?

Otherwise I don't know.

- Brother B

 

I know this is an old post but had the steering locking up intermittently on my 2007 Fatboy. Found a sheared off lower triple tree bolt and the head was lodged between the neck and the fork stop! Hope this may save someone from a crash like i almost did!

 

Had the steering locking up intermittently on my 2007 FLSTF. Found a broken lower triple tree clamp bolt and the head of the bolt was between the steering neck and the steering stop! Hope this may save a crash like i almost did.

 

My neck bearings on my softail are shot I owned the bike for 16 years. I only realized it when someone rode my bike and told me .. i had been having a very hard time at speeds under 10moph, and turning smoothly , but since it was a gradual thing I didn;'t notice it as it progessed .. I wouldnt be looking a neck bearings at first if i were you ,. They donr act that way. Check the locking mechanism..