Pushed my 06 E-glide in the garage the other day when I felt the bars move up. Nice. No problem, I'll just tighten them up. Holy crap! What a pain in the ***! Besides the several steps needed to even get to the friggin' hex nuts, I had to use a Dremel to cut off a section of a hex key to fit in the damn space. Then when I go to reassemble everything, the damn ignition switch **** won't go back in right. Oooops, I of course need "The Ignition Switch Alignment Tool" (Part No. HD-45962) to finish the job. Now I've got to try to get a chance to go down to the shop to pick one up. Someone at HD ought to figure out an easier way to freakin' be able to adjust/tighten your bars without it being such a freakin' project with "special" tools needed. Is there another way/method to use instead of having to get the above mentioned tool? It's on page 8-55 of the 06 touring models service manual (8.19) for those of you who have it. If you go to the Installation section on the next page, go all the way to number 11. That's where I spent about 40 minutes f'ing around redoing everything 3 times BEFORE I turned the page to see steps 12,13 and 14 in case the other methods didn't work. Well, 11 and 12 didn't happen, so I guess I'm at 13 needing a special tool. Wow. To just be able to tighten up or adjust your bars shouldn't be like this and to have your bike basically be on the sidelines because of it is crazy. I'm thinking of Dremelling a section of the fairing off right above the damn hex nuts so if I have to access them in the future, all I'll have to do is pull out my cordura dash bag and there it is. Again, is there any other way around having to get that damn tool?

 

You DON"T need an alignment tool....just a little patience to align the lock tumblers, kinda like crackin' a safe! Make sure ya got the bars tight, where ya want 'em and they should be good!

 

I believe you can also get to them by taking the radio out. I was inside working on a gauge the other day and had to pull the radio, and while I didn't try to adjust the bars, it looked like the clamps were very accessable from there. Just pop the fairing, undo the 4 bolts, slide the radio out and you're in. When I tried to adjust my bars the first time by the manual I got my ignition all messed up too, spent a while turning the tumblers with a long flat blade screwdriver and was able get everything lined up correctly. Hope that helps

 

What were you doing that you had to push the bike into the garage? I would've started it up.[&:]

 

My Glide doesn't have the radio in it, just a dash where I have a cordura dashbag. It's solid underneath it, so that's what I was thinking about Dremeling out, just above the bolts. It'd never be seen as the cordura bag would cover it. I'll try the long flat blade screwdriver tonight along with a bucket o'patience. I usually never try to push the bike like that but I had it in the driveway (slight incline) as I was rearranging the garage. Didn't want to crank it up to move it 40 ft. Kind of glad I found out they'd move like that in my driveway rather than out on a curve half a state away. Thanks for the replies.

 

there's nothing wrong with pushing ur scoot, they do it at the shops all day long.
i just removed my switch recently and followed this procedure...

https://www.hdforums.com/m_118038/tm.htm

except there are two errors in it. step 6- turn the key ccw. step 8- i had to depress the button, otherwise it no go.

 

That 97 is nice. Im also a two harley family but my second bike is a bit older. A 46 flathead.