Hello all…

Due to the countless threads about rear wheel offset that I found, mostly to the left, I want to share my buddy's situation and how it was fixed. I know this is a bit of a read, but I wanted to be as detailed as possible to hopefully help others.

No…. IT IS NOT NORMAL FOR THE REAR WHEEL TO BE OFFSET IN THE FENDER… HD did NOT do this to compensate for the additional weight of the transmission and running gear on the left side of the bike as others have stated…

The bike is a 2006 Dyna Custom. After having a passenger on the back, he happened to notice the paint color from the fender was on the left side of the tire wall. After more inspection, we realized we could barely fit a finger between the left side of the fender and the tire, yet had over two fingers width of space on the right side. Sitting on the bike and reaching under the left side of the fender, I couldn’t even fit my pinky there. Definitely a problem. Getting the bike perfectly level left to right and the swingarm was higher on the right side than the left, thus the rear wheel was technically leaning to the left resulting in the top of the wheel being closer to the top of the fender. Now the question is WHY???? Start checking all the engine mounts and it turned out somehow, someway, the top engine mount bracket (see image, Item #13) just under the gas tank, the one where the horn is also mounted to, was bent. The front and rear mounting points that bolt to the heads of the engine were twisted to the left, thus the entire engine and driveline, including the swingarm, were cocked to the left. New bracket, part # 16331-04 and everything is back in line, rear wheel is centered in fender.

My concern is, why does this appear to be such a common issue raised by so many people on all the forums? I’ve seen pictures of people’s bikes that looked just like his with the rear wheel clearly to the left of the center of the tail light and plate. The bike does not appear to have been wrecked. The engine mount bracket is 3/16” steel and looks like it would take one hell of an impact to bend to the point if it was the result of a wreck, the rider would not have survived and the bike would have had to be mangled. Then the thought was maybe hitting a huge pothole that jarred the entire driveline, but again, that would have had to be such a huge hit that I don’t think anyone would have been able to walk away from. The bends on the bracket seem too perfect and the powdercoat isn’t cracked off either. I almost keep thinking this bracket is somehow from another bike and was used on this bike in error since it’s such a common issue raised. I just don’t know.

Anyway, I wanted to share this story with the community as I know many look to put wider tires on the back, etc. So if you have this issue, have a look at that top engine mount. The front and rear mounting points that bolt to the heads should be perfectly flat. It’s very easy to check out without removing the gas tank. Just get down and look underneath and you will see it..

Safe riding…

 

Makes me wonder how that original part got bent in the first place too.

If replacing the part you mentioned had a major effect on the alignment issue, that's not really rear wheel offset, but rear wheel camber or vertical angle of the rear wheel/swingarm/engine/transmission in relation to the frame and front wheel.

Section 2.13, page 2-28, 29 of the the 2003 Dyna service manual addresses "vehicle alignment." In addition to the basic left to right alignment of the rear wheel within the swingarm, you have to adjust the camber by the top stabilizer link (Item 12 in your photo).

Might be good to give that a serious look/see.

 

I have been scratching my head over this exact issue every since I bought my Fat Bob, have used a digital level thinking that my rear wheel might be leaning left because of a top mount problem but found everything "square".

Think I will recheck my work after reading of your sucess. Thanks for taking the time to write up your solution.