Seals for parts from the chassis chapter

Are there seals for the rigid frame? Steering bearings left aside … no - for obvious reasons. Are there seals for shock absorbers? Neither, sorry. Shock absorbers are pressurized and may not be repaired in your home garage.

Then what for is this chapter? Rear swingarms, of course, are also part of the chassis and on some Harley at least, their bearings are sealed: on the 4-speed Big Twins 1958-1986.

The first 5-speed models from the FLT and FXR series had no swingarm bearing seals at all and Sportster models up to 2003 never had more than two simple sheet metal covers for the swingarm bearings. On all later models with rear swingarm (Softails, Dynas, Tourers with 5 and 6 gears, Sportster with rubber-mounted engine, V-Rod and LiveWire) Harley-Davidson used spherical plain bearings. These cannot be properly sealed and unfortunately cannot be repacked with grease neither. Just dispose them and install new ones.