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2026 Street Glide Limited Adjustable Rider Backrest Mounting Kit
May the build team that said the "standard" rider backrest will fit a '26 Street Glide Limited all be banished to the installation department and forced to put on 10 a day. And may the team who wrote the installation instructions (and I use "wrote" liberally" be tasked to wipe the sweat from the installers foreheads and feel every bruised knuckle x 10. Dealer wanted $150 to install, if I had a good video or thorough instructions I could have finished it in an hour and a half. The tough part is the lever that mounts under the left mid frame heat shield. You need to be a contortionist with long fingers to make that work. If I put those on for a living I would have about 3 special tools and could do it in 45 minutes.
Nice tomorrow and Friday so I'll be in the saddle. Saturday, the garage door opener that works with flash to pass is on the agenda. Again, the dealer want's $150 to install. What I've seen is the front fairing has a few extra steps but I'm estimating an hour and a half if I take my time.
The "instructions" definitely need to be updated for the 2026s. I spent way too much time with that side lever contraption on my 2026 Road Glide Limited just to find out I had to remove it when I went to put the air deflector back on. Could have saved 30 minutes if I'd known the side bracket and the air deflector shared the same mounting hole.
I'm also glad I purchased the lifetime battery replacement option. I'm pretty sure to get the battery out, the entire backrest bracket will have to be removed due to that rear light plug that can no longer be unplugged that goes over the battery area. Getting the BCM tray back in place with that cable plugged in took some doing. I can't imagine how a battery could be taken out with that plug in place. I'm glad someone else will have to deal with that.
I have to say I loved the Harley adjustable backrest I had on my 2010 and moved to my 23. On those two bikes the install wasn't too bad. Only reason I ditched it was I finally got tired of leg cramps and got an extended reach seat. When I put on a heavy jacket it was nice to be able to let the backrest go back a little bit.
I put one on my 2026 Road Glide Limited last night. The worst directions I've had for a Harley part to date. I figured it out, but it was not easy.
Hi Skydude426, did you also have alignment issues when installing the main bracket to the frame? I also installed this backrest on my 2026 RG. Had the same thing on my old 2012 Limited and it fit perfectly. I could not get it to align properly on my new RG though. I made it work but had to add two 1/4" spacers under the small forward bracket to get things to align properly. I was also a little confused by the part in the instructions that said to "skip install step 3" with certain models (including '26 RG). Its was unclear to me if they were referring to skipping step 3 about removing the two upper fender nuts (in the removal steps) or skipping step 3 in the install steps for attachment of the small forward bracket to the main bracket. The exact wording in the instruction was "install step 3" so I assumed the later. Either way didn't make much sense to me. If you don't remove the fender nuts then how would one fasten the main bracket to the fender? On top of the nuts? And not attaching the small bracket to the main bracket (install step 3) doesn't make sense either. Anyway, in the end I ended up removing the two fender nuts and attached the main bracket there on top of the plastic washers. I also had to mount the small bracket to the underside of the main bracket in order to give more room for the wire harness connector (also a noted "option in the instructions). The only issue was that doing it this way, the only way to get the small bracket aligned with the holes in the frame was if it was raised up 1/4" so I used spacers underneath it and everything seemed to work. Not sure if this was the way they intended but thats what I did and it works. Just wondering what you had to do to make it work or did it mount on your bike without any mods necessary? I didn't have any big issue with the cable but it did take a bit of fiddling. Thanks in advance. Bill
Bill my memory ain't too great but I remember when I took the bracket off of my 2010 and put it on my 23 model I looked closer at some pics in the catalog and found that the two pieces of the bracket had been bolted together backwards so to speak. That was why the alignment wasn't quite what it should be. If you are still having issues and your mount is two pieces bolted together like mine it might be worth a look. I think this pic is what mine was and that front piece was what was backwards.
Hi Skydude426, did you also have alignment issues when installing the main bracket to the frame? I also installed this backrest on my 2026 RG. Had the same thing on my old 2012 Limited and it fit perfectly. I could not get it to align properly on my new RG though. I made it work but had to add two 1/4" spacers under the small forward bracket to get things to align properly. I was also a little confused by the part in the instructions that said to "skip install step 3" with certain models (including '26 RG). Its was unclear to me if they were referring to skipping step 3 about removing the two upper fender nuts (in the removal steps) or skipping step 3 in the install steps for attachment of the small forward bracket to the main bracket. The exact wording in the instruction was "install step 3" so I assumed the later. Either way didn't make much sense to me. If you don't remove the fender nuts then how would one fasten the main bracket to the fender? On top of the nuts? And not attaching the small bracket to the main bracket (install step 3) doesn't make sense either. Anyway, in the end I ended up removing the two fender nuts and attached the main bracket there on top of the plastic washers. I also had to mount the small bracket to the underside of the main bracket in order to give more room for the wire harness connector (also a noted "option in the instructions). The only issue was that doing it this way, the only way to get the small bracket aligned with the holes in the frame was if it was raised up 1/4" so I used spacers underneath it and everything seemed to work. Not sure if this was the way they intended but thats what I did and it works. Just wondering what you had to do to make it work or did it mount on your bike without any mods necessary? I didn't have any big issue with the cable but it did take a bit of fiddling. Thanks in advance. Bill
I don't remember off the top of my head. I'm doing my 1000-mile service this weekend and I'll have the seat off. I'll get back to you after I look things over. I do remember the instructions suck and it took a little work to figure it out.
Last edited by skydude426; May 27, 2026 at 10:54 AM.
I used to have one of those but after a couple years or so the hydraulics faded and the damn thing would not stay in a fixed position very long, had to constantly pull the lever to have it go forward again, then fade, rinse and repeat..so I switched to a fixed less expensive one that I like better nowadays
Hi Skydude426, did you also have alignment issues when installing the main bracket to the frame? I also installed this backrest on my 2026 RG. Had the same thing on my old 2012 Limited and it fit perfectly. I could not get it to align properly on my new RG though. I made it work but had to add two 1/4" spacers under the small forward bracket to get things to align properly. I was also a little confused by the part in the instructions that said to "skip install step 3" with certain models (including '26 RG). Its was unclear to me if they were referring to skipping step 3 about removing the two upper fender nuts (in the removal steps) or skipping step 3 in the install steps for attachment of the small forward bracket to the main bracket. The exact wording in the instruction was "install step 3" so I assumed the later. Either way didn't make much sense to me. If you don't remove the fender nuts then how would one fasten the main bracket to the fender? On top of the nuts? And not attaching the small bracket to the main bracket (install step 3) doesn't make sense either. Anyway, in the end I ended up removing the two fender nuts and attached the main bracket there on top of the plastic washers. I also had to mount the small bracket to the underside of the main bracket in order to give more room for the wire harness connector (also a noted "option in the instructions). The only issue was that doing it this way, the only way to get the small bracket aligned with the holes in the frame was if it was raised up 1/4" so I used spacers underneath it and everything seemed to work. Not sure if this was the way they intended but thats what I did and it works. Just wondering what you had to do to make it work or did it mount on your bike without any mods necessary? I didn't have any big issue with the cable but it did take a bit of fiddling. Thanks in advance. Bill
I didn't need to add any spacers. The electrical connector under the backrest mount is now fee floating. I removed the clip that fastened it to the fender. That gave me the room I needed, and I can push it to one side or the other to disconnect it if I need to.
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2026 Street Glide Limited Adjustable Rider Backrest Mounting Kit
