Thanks Ricoman, makes sense now.

 

Yeah, confusing, at best. I spent way too much time trying to interpret the frikkin' instructions; finally, I just went by the diagram. On the Custom, the spacer is not needed, and the bags look weird if you use it. I found there was also no need to relocate the rear shocks air valve.

 

forgot about the valve stem to fill the shock on the RKC - it will need to be relocated. Use a thin 1/8 piece of aluminum if you can. If you use thicker material to mount the valve the HD hand air pump will not go far enough on the valve to let air in.

 

I talked to a local tech and he said the spacer is for classics and or combination luggage racks.

 

On the Custom, it doesn't -- the valve is OK where it is. The instructions, unfortunately, don't make distinctions between different models. That's left as an exercise for the installer....!

 

The 45-47 ft. lbs. has to be a mistake. I would have rounded out the allen head bolt that holds the rear docking point if I tried 45-47 ft. lbs. I quit at 25 ft. lbs and had to wiggle the allen socket to remove it from the bolt. Those instructions are a pile of crap, you need to use common sense and the diagrams that are provided. There was no need to re-route the air line to the left rear shock either as it easily bolted to the lower front hole in the bracket. What looked like a simple job tuned out to be a pain in the *** becuase of the poor instructions. I could now do it a lot faster but will probably never have to do it again unless I am helping someone else.

 

The spacer puts the top of the bags out further, on some bikes it looks bad, you can end up seeing the entire rear shock. On my custom, I went without the spacers, and with the back rest on I just need to be careful when opening the bag or the top of the lid will scrape the rear fastener for the back rest. I like the look without the spacer so I'll just have to remember with the back rest on to be careful opening and closing the lid on the bag.

 

Might it be 45-47 in. lbs?

 

I installed this kit on my RK Custom yesterday.
Thought it would take maybe an hour, but...
Relocated the air line, turned out to be a PITA.
After sliding that little red plastic locking thingy out, the airline still put up quite a fight.
Finally just ripped it out. Took me an hour to realign the little metal clippy thingy inside the air valve to reinstall.
Start drinking.
Mounted the air valve per directions, could not get pump to engage.
Removed air valve, inflated to 20 lbs, reinstalled. I'll deal with this later.
Continued installation...where are those flat metal bars that connect the two mounting points.
Oh, they're in with the sissy bar. Real cute MOCO. What sadistic packaging joker pulled this one.
Thought I was done, mounted the bags, OMG they look like crap.
Removed large spacers, then the fun begins.
Bolt for saddle bag bracket connects to a little square nut that is held in place by a metal clip.
DON'T let this pop out.
Nut in clip slides down the tube and out on the ground.
There must be a trick to replacing it, but none obvious to me.
After many trials and even more errors, I'm able to fish the nut into place with a piece of wire, but can't get the clip to hold.
Had to unbolt bracket and pivot it out of my way. Needle nose pliers too fat to hold nut in place and the clip is unwilling to help out, but I am able to get a bolt into it which frees up a hand to allow me to rehydrate myself.
Cold beverage must have woke up a brain cell I tried to kill in college...HEMOSTATS.
Grasp clippy thing from bottom with hemostats, pivot the bracket back in place, install bag mount, and just cranked the biotch tight.
Reinstall other two bolts for bracket, bags on, and looks good.
With sissy bar on, bag lids (when open) are a little tight against the quick detach cam lock. I can live with this.

Walk in the house, wifey sez "Gee honey, I'm sooo sorry you wasted a good riding day putting that backrest on for me." I smile weakly, crack open another, walk out back, cuss the MOCO, then kick her cat. Should have bought a solo seat instead.

 

Just installed mine today and had the same problem with the spacer. That is what actually brought be to this forum. It kicks the bags on my RK Custom outward. I'm not so much concerned with the looks as much as the stress it seems to be putting on the bags. The left side is a pain to open and close now. I have to push in on the lif to get the latch to engage and disengage.