I’m doing a frame off refurb on my 07 Heritage and I’m installing the rear wheel.

I am running aftermarket wheels now and either something’s off in the overall hub width or I’ve never noticed this before…

I’ve aligned the axle to the swing arm pivot bolt and dropped a straight edge off of the frame fender struts and pulled a tape off of then side of the tire. The whole wheel seems to be shifted to then left (clutch side) 3/8”. Mind you though the brake rotor is centered to the caliper/brake pads and by eye everything looks true.

is this center offset normal? I feel like if was to change the shims from stock to correct the centering it would affect the brake.

 

Plenty of people complain that the wheel is not visually centered on Softails.

If the rotor is in the caliper and the belt lines up, you`re fine

 

If the brake rotor lines up with the caliper, the drive pulley lines up, and the wheel is straight, the bike is in good running condition..


FWIW..

Sometimes, the rear fender can be tweaked just a little, that gives the appearance of an off centered rear wheel.

I wish I saved the pic, but there was a recent post about this. You could tell by his pic taken straight, level, and at license plate height, from behind the bike. It showed that everything was lined up.. except the rear fender.

In that case you just loosen the fender support bolts, and you can twist/tweak the fender so it's now centered and will line up with the tire...

 

some are worse than others

















KTF

 

Oh wow yeah that’s pretty bad. I guess I just never realized. I’m not going back with stock fenders so I guess I’ll see when I get them back from paint. I’m new stuff is fiberglass so not much I can do in terms of bending.

 

What I mentioned about adjusting the rear fender isn't actually bending the metal fender.

By loosening the fender support bolts first, and then "tweaking" the fender, you are just adjusting, or moving the fender to one side or the other, within the range of the loose support bolts.

It couldn't hurt to try it with the fiberglass fender...

Just don't yank/pull on it hard enough to crack fiberglass... The fiberglass may have some adjustability, or it may not. Only one way to find out.