I have an 06 Road King Classic. The bags were changed before I got the bike, but they don't sit straight. When you look at the bike from the back the tops of the bags are tilted to the outside. Are there different brackets for Hard bags and soft bags? I have soft bags on it now. It seems that the brackets need to be cut to pull the bags in closer.

 

Might be helpful to post a pic.

A long shot theory: Does it have the 2 or 4 point docking kit for a rack?

Bear with me here - If it has it, it likely has the bag stop kit for the hinges which prevents the leather lids from getting dented by the docking points which stick out.

The stop kit has a pair of grommets for the holes for the pins for the bag which are bigger than the stock ones, moving the bags out.

Maybe the original owner moved those over to the new bags because he didnt save the old grommets. Those newer grommets might be on the higher side of the bags (toward the front)

 

Welcome to the board, randyn.

My friend had a 1998 road king standard with hard bags. Last year he bought a 2009 road king classic with the soft bags. He hated the look of those soft bags so he switched his hard bags to the 09 road king and put the soft bags on the 1998 road king. Both bags went on without any problems and sit on the rail perfectly. He had the hard bags painted and now the bike looks great.

BTW he gave his 1998 road king, with over 120,000 miles on it to his granddaughter. He is 78 years old and can still out ride most people I know and most of his riding is two up. Last summer we rode out to Sturgis for a couple of weeks. Only a 6400 mile trip.