Reassembling Front End

Here is a very useful set of directions to reassemble the front end on the Sportster. This is required after steering neck service and other instances when the fork tubes are removed from the triple trees. There is a very precise order in which things need to be tightened and not following that order can cause handling issues that did not exist prior to dis-assembly. The issues may be minor like a slight pull to the side or more severe like poor handling on uneven pavement.
The following list assumes that the fork tubes are perfectly straight and are exactly the same length. If not, then those things need to be addressed and are outside of the scope of this article. This also assumes the fork tubes are out of the triple clamps.
These instructions are provided from the wisdom of Steve Ellingson a.k.a. Crazy Steve of xl-list and are printed here with his permission. Thanks, Steve!
If the steering neck bearing adjustment is suspect begin at step 1, otherwise begin with step 3

1. Loosen the pinch bolt on the top triple clamp
2. Loosen the stem bolt, but don't remove it
3. Slip the fork tubes into the triple clamps and set the height exactly the same on both tubes. FSM recommends about 1/2" (11mm - 13mm)
4. Tighten the lower triple clamp pinch bolts to specified torque
5. Tighten the upper triple clamp pinch bolts to specified torque
6. Test fit the wheel axle. It should fit without having to force it. No binding at all should occur. If that's not the case go back to the beginning and start over
7. Install the wheel and torque the axle and axle pinch bolt to specs. Remember to torque the axle pinch bolt last.
8. Install the fender

If steering neck bearing adjustment is suspect follow these steps, otherwise you are done - test ride it.

1. Loosen lower triple clamp pinch bolts
2. Adjust fallaway of the front end per the FSM if needed
3. Tighten the stem pinch bolt to proper torque per FSM
4. Tighten the lower triple clamp pinch bolts to proper torque per FSM
5. Test ride 

If you run a fork brace, follow the instructions provided by the fork brace manufacturer for installation and install it after you are satisfied with the test ride results.

Sportster Steering Neck Service

My Owners' and Service manual calls for this service every 10K miles. What this amounts to is removing the steering neck bearings, cleaning the old grease out of them, re-packing them with new grease and re-assembling the steering neck. I have done this a few times now, but this time I decided to document this procedure. It is not as scary as it may seem, but neither is it as simple as I have described in the previous few sentences. There are a few tips and tricks to know to make the whole thing go smoothly. So, let's get started.

Lifting the bike

First thing that needs to be done is the bike needs to be lifted on the lift in such a way as to have more weight on the front. This is important as we will be removing the front fork and wheel assembly off the bike and therefore lightening up the front part of the bike significantly. If the bike is off balance without the front end it could fall off the lift backwards. I tied the bike to the lift with ratchet ties at the front down tubes, but still, why tempt faith. Put the lift as much towards the rear as possible.

Preparing the Front End for Removal

Now that the bike is securely lifted off the ground with more weight to the front it is time to prepare the front end for removal. This involves removing all the tings that can possibly prevent the front fork and wheel from being removed as a unit. Basically, this amounts to brake caliper(s). I first pressed on the caliper towards the wheel so as to compress the pistons a little and create a small gap between the brake pads and the rotor. This makes both the removal and installation much easier. I then  used a 12pt 10mm socket to undo the brake caliper mounting bolts. I have an all-flex stainless steel braided brake line on my bike, so I just undid the brackets holding it to the steering shaft on the bottom and the top tripple clamp on top freeing it completely from the fork assembly. I used wire ties to secure the caliper to my engine guard (see picture).

Now the only things attached to the front end that are also attached to other parts of the bike are on the handlebars. I could have taken the handlebars and the headlight, both of which are attached to the top triple clamp. That's OK, because I will be dropping the forks from that top clamp anyway, so we are ready for the next step.

Removing the Front End

This is when it gets interesting and the way you lifted the bike will be tested. First loosen the triple clamp pinch bolts as well as the center stem pinch bolt (T45 torx bits are used for that). Then I used a 24mm socket to remove the stem bolt from the top triple clamp. This bolt is not the actual stem, but rather a short bolt that is used for adjusting the neck bearings by tightening or loosening the fit of the bearings in the bearing cups. Once the top triple clamp pinch bolts and the center adjustment bolt are off there is nothing holding the fork tubes to the handlebars. In fact the top triple clamp can now be taken off and laid aside hanging by the wires and throttle cables. Now the top bearing is accessible (see pictures).

I took the top bearing out and loosened the bottom triple pinch bolts now. After the lower pinch bolts are loose you can slide the whole triple clamp down the fork tubes. This is the time to be careful and make sure the balance of the bike on the lift is good without the front end. Once that triple clamp is lowered the whole front end ends up in your hands separate from the rest of the motorcycle. With the bottom triple clamp out pops the bottom bearing (see pictures).

At this point I rolled the front end away, put it aside and removed the bottom bearing from the stem. The bearing hung up a little on the fork lock hole (this hole is only present in rubber mounted models). It required a little gentle persuading with a plastic mallet, but it came off without much coaxing.

Cleaning the Bearings

I used gasoline in a small plastic container to wash the bearings one at a time. I soaked them in gas for a few minutes, then took them out and spun the rollers all around, soaked some more and spun some more until there was no trace of old grease left on the metal. Then I let the bearings air dry. The clean bearings looked like this:

Repacking the Bearings With Fresh Grease

I used Harley Davidson Wheel Bearing Grease, but I am sure any old wheel bearing grease will work just fine. I put the dry, clean bearings in the tub of grease and worked them with my fingers (I use nitrile gloves when working on the bike) until I felt that they were loaded up.

Reassembling the Front End

Reassembly is pretty much reverse of the disassembly. I first put the lower bearing on the shaft, then slid the whole front end back into the frame, then put the top bearing on, then the top clamp, then the center bolt just to catch the threads on the shaft. Once everything was held together loosely, I gently lowered the lift ever so slightly to force the front end into its place by having the front wheel touch the ground lightly. I then made sure everything was aligned and tightened the center bolt to where it just stopped turning (almost no torque on it yet). At this point the front end is almost home where it belongs. I now put more weight on the front tire by lowering the lift a little more. After making sure everything is where it's supposed to be, I lowered the lift to the point where most of the weight was on the front wheel, but the bike was still level and not leaning on the kick stand. At this point I followed the service manual's torque specs for tightening the center bolt. First tighten to 20 ft*lb, then release and tighten to 130 in*lb. Then tighten the pinch bolts to 33 ft*lb.
That pretty much did the trick.
It may be a good idea to check the fork alignment and read this just to make sure the fork is all straight and even.

Drilling out Idle Mixture Screw Plug

If you have a bike where idle mixture screw is capped with a metal plug, you will need to remove this plug in order to have access to the idle mixture screw. Having access to idle mixture screw is one of the first needs a new Sportster owner (assuming 2006 and older bike) will have. These bikes have been set to idle way too lean and one of the first adjustments most pleople make is idle mixture adjustment. You can see directions for adjusting your idle mixture here, but first you will need to remove that pesky plug that EPA mandates be there from the factory. So, without further ado, the removal of the idle mixture screw plug.

1. Remove the carburater. Actually, it is possible to do this without removing the carburetor. To do that you need to pop the carburetor off the intake manifold and tilt it up so the idle mixture screw plug is easy to reach. I did not disconnect the throttle or choke cables for this. I just popped the carburetor off the manifold and tilted it up so I could get to the bottom with a drill bit
2. CAREFULLY drill a small hole through the plug. The size of the hole should be such that a drywall screw would need to force its way into it with its threads. I suggest using a hand drill here or be very careful not to go through the plug too quickly. There is not much to the plug, it will yield easily, so take your time here and just slowly but surely make a hole through it without poking the drill bit much below where the actual idle mixture screw is.
3. Get a one inch or longer drywall screw and screw it into the hole you just made a few threads. Maybe just deep enough to gently touch the screw underneath and back out half a thread from there.
4. With a pair of pliers pull on the screw while holding the carburetor fast with your other hand. You may need to work the pliers back and forth a bit, but the plug will pretty quickly come out with the screw.
5. Discard the plug and screw.

Bleeding brakes the old fashioned way

1. Make sure there is enough brake fluid in the master cylinder
2. press brake lever
3. open the bleeding screw while keeping brake lever depressed
4. allow brake fluid and air bubbles to escape into the catch pan
5. close the bleeding screw
6. release the brake lever
7. go to step 1 unless no bubbles came out in step 3
8. Top off the master cylinder and close it up

Idle Speed Adjustment on a Harley-Davidson Sportster

Before you do this you may need to remove the plug covering the idle mixture screw. You can find the directions on how to do that here.

Here's my version of the idle mixture adjustment procedure. It may be slightly different than others, but I believe the idea is the same.

Procedure

1. warm up the bike to operating temperature. This is very important!
2. leave the bike running and turn the idle speed screw up so the engine idles fairly fast. It is not important how many RPM at this point, this is just to prepare for the next step.
3. turn the idle mixture screw in all the way until is seats (be gentle do not tighten the screw down. It is not a fastener, it is an adjustment needle, really). If the bike stalled while doing that go back to previous step and raise the idle speed a bit more. The idea here is to have the bike idling with the mixture screw turned all the way in.
4. now slowly turn the idle speed screw in until the engine just barely runs almost stalling. You can go to the point of stalling and back off slightly from that. Now you have your idle speed set in a pretty good place. Leave it be.
5. Shut off the engine and turn the idle mixture screw out about 3 or 4 turns out. Restart the engine. It should be running just fine now. Now turn the mixture screw in slowly while listening to the engine speed. As soon as you hear the speed change (slow down) ever so slightly stop and back off a quarter turn for colder weather and half a turn for warm weather. I tend to set it at somewhere in between and forget about it.
6. If you have a tachometer, check the idle speed against it. The specification is 1,050 RPM. It is really important to idle the bike around that speed as the oil pump does not produce enough flow to protect the engine at lower speeds.
7. Test ride and enjoy!

Note: I know I am omitting the part of finding the rich stumble, but the reality is that many times there will be no rich stumble and people will go increasing their pilot jets, which is wrong. You choose your pilot jet based on other things. Once the pilot jet is chosen you adjust the idle mixture as described above and all will be well.