I noticed shortly after I bought my Dyna Wide Glide (1996) that the riser bracket is slighlty twisted to the right. After further inspection and removing the bars all of the rubber and metal washers seem to be straight. The bolts are not bent but after re-assembling still notice a slight twist toward the right. (i.e. right side is slightly lower than the left. Anyone ever had this happen to them? How can I straighten them?

 

Easy man, just loosen the top clamp bolts slightly (assuming the riser bolts are tightened to spec in the triple tree), just enough so bars don't drop on ya, then stand on right side of bike, and give a real good shove on the bars about mid height back to the left (helps to have wheel cocked all the way over!), hold the bars where they look straight, and tighten the riser bolts alternating left riser to right riser and back. Takes a little bit of contortion and your shoulder to keep pressure on the handlebars. A third hand really helps, but can be done alone.

If you look real close on the dealers showroom, most bike's bars are twisted slightly.

 

I would loosen the two 1/2" bottom bolts holding the risers to the top tree then loosen the top clamp bolts. With the bottom bolts still loose, retighten the top clamp bolts to make sureboth risers are square with the bars. Then twist the bars til they're straightand alternately tighten the bottom bolts and hope the bars stay straight.
I got tired of fighting the same thing on an '03 Wide Glide and bought polyurethane bushings, they don't have any give like the rubber ones do.
Also, it is possible to distort the metal washers if the 1/2" bolts are tightened too tight. They should be cupped with the concave side facing the rubber bushing.

 

Chipstah, thanks man, that makes sense and I've not tried it before. I'll post again after I've tried itand let you know how it went.

 

Same problem here. The bars at the clamp area are not parallel with the trees when looking down at them. Gonna try these suggestions. I installed poly bushings too and new riser bolts. Thanks!

 

I just tried the above proceedure that Chipstah and Murphdog suggested. Works like a charm. Thanks guys! This has been eaten at me for a few weeks now. I wasabout to purchase a new set ofrubberbusings and washers.A friend of mine has a 98 Heritage Springer. I just found out he's has had the same problem since he got the bike in the spring of 2007. He thought he needed to get a "Springer Straightening" job or something. He's pretty pumped to give this a try since I told him there's an easy cure.