I have a 79 big twin 80CID shovelhead with some electrical issues. The wire that runs into the speedometer seems to be shorted to ground. I traced it and it goes under the bracket that holds the speedometer and goes to a electrical connection with 2 posts. One of the posts has a duel wire connected to it, one going to the front and one to the rear of the bike. I cut them apart to measure resistance on both to ground and both are shorted to ground. The other post had the speedometer wire and a wire that runs up to ignition switch upper center post which I saw in a diagram being referred to as the lights terminal. all my headlights and tail lights and turn signals work. How can this wire be shorted and all my other lights still work. I am also wondering about a cable that is just hanging between the tanks. It looks like a bicycle brake cable sort of and had a plate with 3 holed in it and it is connected at the other end to the threaded shaft that sticks straight up to mount the crome cover for the ignition switch and speedometer. It was just laying there when I started digging for this wire. Any idea what this is or if I need it connected up? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

I take it we are talking about a 79 FLH not a FX. The speedometer light is connected to a circuit breaker, That is the box with the two terminals. What makes you think the wire is shorted to ground? The socket grounds itself to the speedometer housing and it gets power from the circuit breaker. Disconect if from the circuit breaker and test the light. Negative to the socket positive to the wire. The cable between the tanks is the choke cable for the stock Kehin Carb. If you have a different carb they may have abandoned the cable.

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