Harley-Davidson 2024 Road Glide / Street Glide Maintenance Schedule and Service Info
This is the maintenance schedule and service intervals for the 2024 Harley-Davidson Road Glide and Street Glide (FLHX / FLTRX), with an updated 2024 partially liquid-cooled Milwaukee-Eight engine.
The Road Glide and Street Glide are a closely related pair of motorcycles in Harley-Davidson’s Touring range. They’re distinguished mostly by the front fairing construction — it’s a matter of style to choose between them. But the underpinnings are the same — the 117 c.i. Milwaukee-Eight motor with liquid cooling in the cylinder heads, running a compression ratio of 10.3:1 to make peak power of 105 hp / 78 kW at 4600 rpm, a slight increase over the specs of the previous gen M8-powered Glide.
The final drive is via Harley-Davidson’s 6-speed “Cruise Drive” and a belt.
The Road Glide and Street Glide come in a dazzling array of colours. Here are a few of them below.
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Harley-Davidson Road Glide / Street Glide Service Intervals
Like most Harley-Davidson motorcycles, the Harley-Davidson FLHX and FLTRX have 5000 mile / 8000 km or annual service intervals.
At every service, change the oil and filter, and look over the motorcycle for items needing lubrication, adjustment, or cleaning. Also check wearable items (like hoses and tires) to see if they’re still in good condition.
As the Milwaukee-Eight motor has self-adjusting hydraulic valve lifters, there is no valve service interval. However, Harley-Davidson does suggest you change the spark plugs every 30000 miles / 48000 km or two years.
As well as engine oil, you need to periodically replace both primary chaincase lubricant and transmission lubricant, though less often than the oil (see below).
One addition for the 2024 model year is liquid cooling. Anathema to some traditionalists, the 2024 Road and Street Glide models have liquid-cooled cylinder heads — though the cylinders are still air-cooled. Thus, there’s now a radiator and a coolant service interval (which is very wide, mind you).
A number of items need to be done less frequently, like changing the brake fluid. See the schedule for more details.
Maintenance schedule for the Harley-Davidson Street Glide / Road Glide (FLHX / FLTRX) from 2024
Below is the service schedule for the Harley-Davidson 2024+ FLHX and FLTRX. This comes from the manual (they share a manual), but has been clarified for legibility.
For convenience, we’ve ordered it so that the most important elements (fluid changes and major checks) are at the top, and we’ve separated the items to inspect (e.g. condition of cables and moving parts) into a separate “inspection checklist”.
Notes
- Some items (starting with the oil change) have a time-based or distance-based service interval. Use the earlier of the two.
- One interesting point is the replacement of spark plugs every two years, regardless of mileage.
| km x 1000 | 1.6 | 8 | 16 | 24 | 32 | 40 | 48 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| mi x 1000 | 1 | 5 | 10 | 15 | 20 | 25 | 30 | Every |
| Engine oil — Change | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | Year |
| Oil filter — Change | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | Year |
| Primary chaincase lubricant — Replace | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | Year | |||
| Transmission lubricant — Replace | ✓ | ✓ | Year | |||||
| (Spoked wheels) Front and rear spoke tightness — Check | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | 15000 mi / 24000 km | ||||
| Spark plugs — Change | ✓ | 2 years | ||||||
| Air cleaner filter — Inspect | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | Year | |
| Brake fluid — Change (Castrol DOT 4) | 2 years | |||||||
| Safety critical screws and nuts — Tighten – Hand control switch housing screw – Clutch lever handlebar clamp – Front brake handlebar clamp screw – Front axle nut torque – Rear axle nut torque | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | Year | |||
| Windshield bushings — Inspect | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |||||
| Steering head bearings — Lubricate | ✓ | |||||||
| Engine coolant — Replace | 45000 mi / 72000 km | |||||||
| Fuel filter — Replace | 100,000 mi / 161,000 km |
Inspection Checklist
Below is the standard service checklist for the Harley-Davidson Road Glide and Street Glide (FLHX and FLTRX). Do this according to the schedule above.
Some items are recommended to be checked annually — these are checked in the second column.
| Standard Inspection Checklist — 2024 Road Glide / Street Glide | Annual |
|---|---|
| Electrical equipment and switches – Inspect | |
| Tire pressure and tread (front and rear) – Check | ✓ |
| Brake fluid content (front and rear) – Check level and moisture content. Replace if moisture over 3%. | ✓ |
| Clutch cable – Adjust and check for leaks, contact, or abrasion. Lubricate cable with Harley-Davidson lubricant | |
| Engine coolant — Check level and freeze point, and check system for leaks | |
| Radiators — Clean | |
| Oil and brake lines – Inspect | ✓ |
| Fuel lines and fittings — Inspect | ✓ |
| Brake fluid level, front and rear — Inspect | |
| Brake pads (front and rear) – Check wear Minimum thickness: 0.4 mm / 0.016 in | |
| Brake discs — Check wear | ✓ |
| Brake and clutch controls – Lubricate | |
| Jiffy stand – Lubricate | ✓ |
| Drive belt and sprockets – Inspect | |
| Drive belt – Check / Adjust tension | |
| Rear sprocket isolators – Inspect at every tire change | |
| Exhaust system, fasteners, and shields – Inspect | ✓ |
| 12-volt battery — Check voltage, terminal torque, and terminal cleanliness. Lubricate terminals with contact lubricant | ✓ |
| Fuel door hinge and latch – Lubricate | |
| Component and system function – Road test |
Belt Maintenance
Below are more details on belt maintenance.
To check the belt tension on your 2024 Street Glide / Road Glide, follow the procedure below. (Refer to the below image, too.)
You need a belt tension tool and a ruler. You can use either the standard Harley-Davidson tool or a generic one (they do the same thing).
- Put the motorcycle in neutral on its stand, with the rear wheel on the ground.
- Push up on the middle of the bottom half of the belt until the belt tension gauge registers 10 lb (4.5 kg) of pressure.
- Use the ruler to measure belt tension.
Target belt tension for the Harley-Davidson Street Glide / Road Glide: 1/4 – 7/16 in / 6.4-11.2 mm (4-7 gradations in the deflection window)
If the belt tension is out of spec, you can either adjust it yourself if you’re familiar with how, or take it to a dealer.
Tires sizes and Pressures for the Harley-Davidson Road / Street Glide (2024)
Both the Road Glide and Street Glide run the same tires in a 19/18-inch combo. The tires are Dunlops custom made for the bikes.
| Wheel | Tire size | Tire pressures (cold) |
|---|---|---|
| Front | 130/60B19 M/C 61H | 36 psi / 248 kPa |
| Rear | 180/55B18 M/C 80H | 40 psi / 276 kPa |
Of course, adjust pressures as suits your riding style and needs.
About the 2024 Harley-Davidson Road Glide / Street Glide
The Road Glide and Street Glide are staples in the touring market. There are times when it seems that everyone is on one or the other — particularly when crossing the country on long trips, and doubly particularly in the USA.
But that doesn’t stop the fact that they’re awesome bikes. In fact, it’s because of it. They’re well thought out, comfortable, fully-equipped touring machines that turn miles into joy.
The Road and Street Glide have for a while been near the premium end of Harley-Davidson’s tourers. Only a few models sit above them — like the CVO touring models and the Ultra, which is even more plush, especially for the passenger.
While Harley-Davidson is very much a “if it ain’t broke” kind of manufacturer, in 2024, they’ve significantly updated the Road Glide and Street Glide. And while many point at the redesigned fairings or external parts and indicate that’s where the important changes are, for people obsessed with maintenance, it’s the engine.
The heart of the FLHX and FLTRX is still a Milwaukee-Eight motor, a large-capacity pushrod-activated “Big Twin”. But Harley-Davidson is slowly transitioning the engines from being air-cooled (via air/oil-cooled) to being liquid cooled.
For now, there’s liquid cooling just for the cylinder heads, and focusing on the rear, and focusing on the exhaust valves there. This means the cooling system is quite small, with less than a litre (or quart) of coolant, and only a small radiator up front.
The design is different from the Ultra Limited, a bike which has had “Twin Cooling” for over a decade, and which uses twin side-mounted radiators.
Maintenance of the cooling system is in theory low. Harley-Davidson prescribes a long-life coolant which only breaks down over a long period of time. So the coolant replacement interval is 45,000 mi or 72,000 km — with no time interval, interestingly.
Early models of twin-cooled Harleys suffered from some cooling system failures, like faulty caps or broken-down pumps. But fewer of these are reported as time goes on, and the benefits (for most) outweigh the risks.
The addition of liquid cooling allowed Harley-Davidson to ever so slightly increase the compression ratio of the bike, from 10.2:1 to 10.3:1, with a small commensurate increase in power and torque.
Externally, Harley-Davidson has also redesigned the exterior of both bikes. The Street Glide’s fork-mounted batwing is sleeker and has more features to ensure clean air over the rider. Both bikes have upgraded lighting (full LED) with features that match the new fairings.
There are a couple of big updates on the tech front, too. The 2024 touring models both have huge 12.3-inch full-colour displays (configured to look like analogue displays), and also have ride-by-wire features including ride modes and cornering ABS/traction control (which they’ve had since the 2020 revision).
While liquid cooling is restricted to the Street Glide and Road Glide for now, I expect it’ll trickle down the line into the rest of the Big Twin line.
Reference — Manual for the Harley-Davidson Road Glide / Street Glide (2024)
The above maintenance schedule came from the manual for the Harley-Davidson Touring models for 2024, also referencing other information on forums.
Below you can see screenshots from the manual for the Road Glide and Street Glide for the 2024 model year.
You can download manuals and other info from Harley-Davidson directly here (login required).
