I have been trying to do a few cosmetic upgrades to my 2 month old Iron 883 and find that I am having trouble getting access to the various nuts and bolts to do so.
Headlight trim ring--the fork is in the way
Docking hardware for a cargo rack--can't get a wrench up under the fender to loosen front bolts. Got the rear ones changed, but even those were not a straight shot to the screw heads
Derby cover--just looking at it I can see that the foot peg will be in the way.
Is it just inexperienced me not knowing all the tips and tricks or not having the right tools?
I did manage to change to get the air filter trim changed!

 

Not sure about this problem. My trim ring is held on by one screw on the bottom of the light and the screw faces straight forward, between the forks.

You really need to jack the bike up which will make the clearance needed as the wheel/swingarm drop away from the fender.

Remove the 2 bolts that fasten the peg mount to the frame.

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One of the first things I did when I bought the bike was to make some tight clearance tools knowing I would encounter this issue. Real easy to do and real cheap. I went to Home Depot and bought an inexpensive screwdriver bit set that included a bunch of torx sizes. I took the ones I needed, held them in a vice grip and ground them down to little nubs. Now using a 1/4 wrench and the nubs I can get to several of the tight clearance bolts. I used it to install the passenger pegs without removing the exhaust and it made installing the docking kit easy as well. I imagine I will be using it in a few other places as well. Just throwing it out there - probably 10 bucks for the set and 20 minutes at the grinding wheel.

 

You'll find a factory service manual is a great help......

 

Yeah, I've been looking for a manual, but I haven't been able to find one specific to the 2014 Sportsters. Not HD or Clymer.

 

You can't have tried very hard! Simply ask your local friendly dealer - if they don't have one in stock they can get one in for you - simples!

 

Duh! I guess I figured if it wasn't online it wasn't available. After all isn't everything you'd ever want online?!

 

They can be had on-line, but that may require phoning or emailing a suitable dealer.

 

Took the bike to my dealer(Chi-Town) today and they finished installing my docking hardware for me. Handed over the the 2 bolts and was out of there in less than a half hour. No charges!
Have a service manual in stock also, so I'll probably pick that up next week.