We study the mass bounds of the gauge boson in generic left-right symmetric models. Assuming that the gauge bosons couple universally to quarks and leptons, we allow different gauge couplings and mass mixing in the left and right sectors. Imposing constraints from collider experiments and , , physics, we investigate scenarios where is lighter or heavier than the right-handed neutrino . In these scenarios, mass bounds can be considerably relaxed, while mass bounds are much more stringent. In the case where , the experimental constraints come from the and channels, while if , the dominant constraints come from . The observed (expected) limits in the two-dimensional (, ) mass plane excluded at the 95% confidence level extend to approximately (3.3) TeV in the channel and 3.3 (3.4) TeV in the () channel, for a large range of right-handed neutrino masses up to in the channel and 2.6 (2.5) TeV in the () channel, representing a significant relaxation of the mass bounds.