Neck grease issue???

[shadow]

I noticed that my 05 Road King has been spewing droplets of something down the left side of the bike since my last service. It appears to show up on the engine guard, Horn cover,and transmission cover. On closer inspection it appears to be coming from the left fork upper slider. I can seen some residue that looks like 30 weight light brown motor oil. I thought I might have a seal issue, so I took it down to the dealer. The service manager and one of his best mechanics looked at it and assured me that it was not a bad seal. they told me that when the service is done, the neck if the fork is lubed and that due to heat and the scooter leaning to the left in the parked position, the neck lube can drip into the triple tree and run down the left fork. They claim that this is common on Harley touring bikes and that they have seen it many times before and that it is nothing to be concerned about. Has anyone else heard of this issue on Harley Touring bikes? Or should I get a second opinion from another dealer? I also do not know what to expect if a fork seal should go out. Any info would be helpful.

[Mungo]

Are you talking about fork oil or grease?

Funny you say this, I just serviced the softail and I'm bad about putting perhaps a little too much grease in the neck bearing. It inevitably squeezes out during the first 100-150 miles and makes a mess of me and the bike.

But this stuff still looks like grease. Pretty thick clumps.

But now, if this is coming from the slider, it's fork oil. And it sounds like it coming in more quantity than just something they used to lube the tube.

Two issues here. It's a $20,000 bike and I'd be willing to bet the service you paid for wasn't cheap. Number one, the bike should be detailed before being returned to you and secondly, you should expect the same ride you got out of your bike when you drove it off the showroom floor. Meaning no drips/residue, etc...


And, I've had an 04 Road King and I have an 06 Ultra and neither of them exhibit this problem.

[speed]

Grease from the neck is nothing to worry about, but fork oil should never be leaking. Did they change the fork oil? If so, they wouldn't have touched the main seal, which is in the tube, but there is a cheesy o-ring around the filler bolt (one on each side of the top of the tree) that can get pinched and leak quite easily. I would start there.

SM

[shadow]

Thanks for getting back with me on this. The O ring in question appears to be dry around it. I do not think they should have messed with the fork during a 1K inspection (last year). Ifr it is neck grease, it appears to be seperating and appears to be coming down the inside of the upper slider cover. I do not see any grease residue higher than the top of the slider cover and there does not appear to be any on the rubber fork stop. I guess thoeretically, when the grease gets hot and the bike is parked, the grease could lose viscosity and run out the holes in the triple tree where the brake line goes through. It just looked like motor oil instead of neck grease. I was surprised at the dealers answer and thought they were BSing me. If anyone has heard anything else about this , let me know. Hope I covered all the bases, Thanks again.

[Fubar]

You gotta find out where the grease/oil is comin from...clean that motherfucker(did I just say that LOL) reall good, clean up all the fork grease....now go for a run and see if anything is leaking...you can't fix it unless you know where it's comin from