I know this may have been asked many a time but I need to tilt my bars back a fraction as I am having to reach for them and its not very comfortable.
I have a 2001 Road king and would like to know how you get the chrome cover off? The rest will come easy!!!!!!!

 

The procedure is very well described in the factory service manual. Since I just did this myself last weekend when I put new bars on my 98 RKC, I'll tell you how I did it and we'll hope that yours comes apart similarly to mine.

1. Remove the headlight trim ring, headlight, and the headlight housing. Don't mess with the two screws that adjust where the headlight points. One at 12 oclock, the other at nine. The trim ring has 1 screw at the bottom, then you pry it off with your FINGERS. You might have to fight the trim piece off a little. Be patient. There is a funky piece of wire at the top that helps hold it in place. Save the funky piece for later. There are 7 screws for the headlight housing and 3 for the inner trim ring.

2. Remove the long, thin, piece of trim that sits on top of the chrome headlight shroud. There are two little nuts on the inside of the headlight cover. Be careful, the studs on the trim piece are delicate and will break off if you look at them too hard. Try to get the nuts off by hand if you can. They aren't real nuts, they are called "speed nuts". Junky.

3. Pry off the fork lock cover with a putty knife. It comes off real easy and is just plastic.

4. Remove the three screws on the chrome piece that cover the handlebar mounting brackets (in the center of the handlebars). There are two in the back and one in the front. Don't loose the nut and washer from the front one. It can fall into the wiring mess inside the headlight shroud and get lost real quick.

5. Loosen and adjust the handlebars. Double and triple check the fit. Also check the adjustment of the clutch and brake levers.

6. Tighten the (2) REAR handlbar bolts only. Get them real tight. I don't know what the torque spec is. Now tighten the (2) front handlebar bolts. This will pinch off the handlebars and get you a tighter set of bars.

7. The rest of the installation is the opposite of the removal. The last trim ring that you will put on is a pain to install. The funky wire has to be put on correctly and part of it goes into the tab at the top of the headlight housing. Take your time with it, it's just annoying and not too difficult.

It's a good idea to check the function of the clutch and throttle while the handlebars are in the full right and full left positions just to be sure they don't stick.

 

WOW! fantastic thanks, I have ordered a manual but will print off your thread and use that, brilliant!

 

1. Loosen handlebar clamp with allen wrench.

2. Move bars to desired position.

3. Find torque wrench and allen bit and retighten clamp to specified torque value.

 

If you have stock bars on your king you will find that any handle bar adjustment you make won't help. The stock bars SUCK!

 

I think your right, I would prefer later this year to get a different set of bars, I like the position better if they were an inch or two longer at the grips, any suggestions?

 

Other than new bars, maybe a seat that moves you forward a bit.

 

How different are the FatBoy bars to these?

 

Wouldn't that be an expensive option? Although I can see it would be easier!!!!

 

Well I am finally stripping down the RK and have come up with a problem, The Handle bar cover will not come off!
I have tried looking for the back screws and have found none, even though that cover is loose but will not budge, any ideas?