Fixing Road Glide Fairing Fitment Issues Post Upgrade

[Little Mike]

Just wanted to post up some discoveries I made to correct possible fairing fitment issues post speaker/amp upgrade on a Road Glide. These were applicable to my 2011 RG Custom and may apply to surrounding model years. First, for the sake of sound you should go with the conical adapters that are recommended here by...well...everyone. I don't know what the overall depth of the ARC adapters is BUT if you go with the ones that "look" identical by Eastern Performance Cycle you may need to cut, grind, sand, or otherwise remove about a 1/4" from the smaller circumference side. This becomes more likely the larger the speaker basket is on your speakers. This addressed two issues for me. One the larger basket on the Kappas versus the Polks (two very commonly used speakers). The other was the slight additional space needed for the polyfil. Also, make sure the flare of the adapter that makes up the increase in diameter from the 5 1/4" to 6 1/2" is pointed inboard...toward the center of the bike.

The second thing I discovered, and this required removing the bevel and headlight assembly to find, is in regards to the amp. Specifically the mounting plate. If you went with or are going with the plate that mounts the amp along the side of the inner fairing versus on top of the radio it may be an issue for you too.

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If you look at the arrow on the left you can see a hole in the fairing. There is another one on the right side UNDER that mounting plate. The issue is that those are there to make room for the two bottom mounting studs on the headlight assembly. The right hand stud (left hand if you were sitting on the bike) hits that plate and not only makes getting the fairing back on more difficult but it just doesn't sit right. The easy solution I found was to just cut a little off the end of that stud. I used a pair of linesman's pliers. The good news is that there is about 1/4" - 5/16" on the end that is not threaded. So no need to worry about screwing up the threads on the adjustment portion of the mounting stud.

I hope this helps anyone else on a RG who has upgraded and been being going crazy because their fairing wasn't sitting right anymore.   

[Coyote]

Actually the holes are there to allow acces to those little studs. It is so you can adjust the headlight angle.

[Little Mike]

Actually the holes are there to allow acces to those little studs. It is so you can adjust the headlight angle.

That makes even more sense. Only has a Roadie for about 5 months now and haven't had to adjust the headlights. To my original point though, the scratches on the amp mounting bracket indicated the adjustment stud was hitting it. Sounds like an even better solution for those with the right tools would be to mill an additional hole in the bracket. That would solve the fitment issue and maintain access for adjustments. Looks like I'll be doing just that the next time I have it opened up.

[Coyote]

Yeah that sounds like a solution.    When I did my amp, I installed it between the inner faring and the glove box.  I'm wondering what bracket you used for your install.

[Little Mike]

I found it on Amazon when I was shopping for my amp. It is pre-drilled to accept the Rockford Fosgate PBR300X2 and X4 so it was one of those.."people who bought this item also purchased" deals. It was $30 so I figured WTH. Nice heavy gauge steel and the bend is clean so I'm not complaining. It's nice and solid which I guess is what's ultimately important. They should have spent another 10 minutes in R&D though, lol.

[strokerjlk]

I have never tried to line a shark nose faring up before .
I notice everyone of them are slightly off from the factory .
So they can be loosened up and fixed without a lot of time involved ?

[Little Mike]

I have never tried to line a shark nose faring up before .
I notice everyone of them are slightly off from the factory .
So they can be loosened up and fixed without a lot of time involved ?

The short answer is yes. From the factory there is a fair amount of free space in there. The do as decent a job as on anything else with tucking everything away. Take that for what it's worth. If it isn't lining up properly, and nobody has gone in and moved everything about or added stuff, then you should be able to loosen everything up and get it to align properly. I believe most often on the re-installation the turn signals aren't seated properly.
In my case after the speaker upgrade the larger speaker baskets were causing the outer fairing to rise above the inner fairing on either side of the windshield. Enough so that with a flashlight I could see the polyfil through the opening. I was concerned with water intrusion in the rain. Shortening up the adapter ring caused the speakers to not stick as far forward. That 1/4" was all I needed. Now it meets up with and compresses against the black molding like it should.     

[strokerjlk]

Thank you . Good to know