The instructions provided were minimal and lacked detail. It wasn't hard to figure out though. The only problem I ran into was where to get power for the lamps. That small detail is not noted anywhere in the basic instructions provided. I had to go to the dealership and ask for that info. They were great about it and told me it was the grey wire from each of the turn signals that are not used by the factory. Harley put that power there specifically for passing lamps to be installed later.
- Remove windshield
- Remove the front of the fairing. After removing the Torx screws remove the headlight connectors.
- Remove ignition switch. You have to remove this to get the switch control panel off.
- Remove the switch control panel.
- Install switch into a blank area of the switch control panel
Wire The Switch Wiring To Harness
Wire switch power feed both in and out and ground into the harness according to the diagram. The picture below is the back of the harness which points towards the switch controls. You have to stick the new switch wires into the specifically labeled holes to route power to the lights. I purchased the independent lighting control harness as well. That way you can have your brights on at the same time as your passing lamps. That was the easy part of the installation, disconnect the wiring harness from the switch panel and snap the short harness in between. It is clean, sealed, and makes the necessary cross-connects so you don't have to cut and solder wires.
Turn Signal Housings
Remove existing turn signals because you will use your existing housings. This is where it started getting a bit tricky. You are supposed to feed the turn signal wires through the new mounting bracket along with the power wire for the passing lamps. First, you have to cut the connector off of the turn signal wires. You will have to make a new one with the provided components later. The problem is that the turn signal lamp wires have been sealed in a plastic material that adheres to them. You cannot just simply pull that sheath off to expose the wires and with the sheath on it is too big to fit through the bracket hole with the passing lamp power. It's not just a hole, it's a 6-inch-long little hole you've got to push all the wires through.
I had to take a utility knife and very carefully slice the sheath off the turn signal wires without cutting through to the copper. This picture is before cutting the connector off to feed the cables through the new lamp bracket. You can kind of see how the wires are sealed inside a plastic sheath. That sheath had to be split carefully with a utility knife along the entire length to get the wires out.
Wire Sheath Is Too Big
Here you are supposed to put this wire sheath on now that you have the bracket work finished. But, the wire sheath Harley gives you is HUGE, as in it could go over 15+ wires, and it's not shrink tubing! Horrible. I went to Auto Zone and bought a roll of shrink-fit tubing and covered them properly from the exposure point on the bracket all the way up to where I had to build the new connector.
- Install passing light assembly on forks
- Build the new connector. This means stripping the jacket off about ⅛" of the end of all 4 wires for each turn signal and passing lamp. Then you are supposed to crimp the provided pins on the wire and snap them into the new connector. I soldered mine on instead to ensure good contact. Then stick the pins in the correct positions in the new connector and reconnect them to the feed in the fairing. This is where you get the power for the passing lamps. There is an extra grey wire on the feed connector that is originally unused which is now used for the passing lamps.
- Try them out before finishing re-assembly.
- Re-install front of fairing and windshield.
- Wash the bike. (Why not right?)
Doesn't Take Long
The installation took 3 hours from start to finish and that included my trip to Harley to find out about the power feed. Not bad for not having done it before. They look great and work great. It really shoots light out to the sides which is great for safety. On my morning commute to work which is always in the dark, I can come up right beside a car and see the light from them lighting up the driver.
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