Just happened across this site while doing some searches. Upgraded my Nightster to a Superglide about a year ago. First thing was the low profile suspension and now I'm looking at changing the stock bars for the mini ape hangers. The dealership sez that there is not enough wire in the harness to reach the switch housings if I change the bars. Will have to cut, splice and solder extensions in. They say 8 hrs labor?????

Is this right??? Anyone changed bars without having to cut into the harness to lengthen wires??

Appreciate any help on this.

By the way, I'm in Livingston Texas. About 1.5 hrs North of Houston.

 

I know on my Street Bob there was about 8 inches of extra in the frame. It had factory 10" mini apes on it from the factory and I put 12" z-bar ape hangers on it. The guy at the company said he's had customers put 14" apes on with no cable or wire extensions.

That said, I can't speak for your model but it's easy enough to pull the rubber boot and see how much is in there.

 

I went from 10's to 14's with no harness extention. That said I think yours will need some extra inches but they sell a harness extention that plugs in.

I'd do as they said and cut and solder but I can still do the whole job in about 3-4 hours.......not 8

 

Changed bars on my Low Rider, needed cables/brake line/wiring harness extension.

Dealer sheet said 4 hrs labor (not internal wiring).

Service Mgr only charged 2 hrs because there was a screw-up in ordering parts and I had to wait an extra 4 days to get the bike. I really didn't care because it was in January and not riding friendly.

8 hrs sounds bogus.

Sammi

 

I just did that mod on my '09 FXD last month.
I don't think it took me quite 8 hrs to do but while I was at it I also relocated the turn signals and as long as the I had the tank off I installed a 2'' lift when I put it back on.
I used a pre-made wire extension kit and removed the wires from the plugs using a flat cut safety pin. I also didn't trust the bare terminals to not come undone so I soldered them together before putting on the shrink tube. The most time consuming parts of the job were the wiring of course and changing the clutch cable.

 

I believe you have internal wiring on your bike. I didn't need extensions, but there was about four-hours labor to swap my bars. I may have been quoted six.

 

Thanks guys.

I think I'll pull my tank and see how much extra harness is inside the frame. I asked the parts guy about the plug and play harness extension and he said it didn't exist. (I do know there was a change in the front end of the Dynas between the 06 & 07 models, might be something to do with it)

If it comes down to cutting into the harness, I hate to say it but I'll let the dealership handle that for me. Don't want to cross up anything with less than 5k on the speedo.

 

That's what I said when a buddy and I were gonna do my bars ourselves. $400 was worth not fighting through that jungle.

 

I put the fat mini apes on mine. pulled the wires, and soldered in 8" extensions. Put chrome switches and controls back on, and ran the wires internally... new grips too... about 8-9 hours worth.... I was in no big damn hurry.... and is why everything worked the first time, and still works.

 

I could only find about 3.5" of slack in the harness. Not nearly enough. Guess I gotta take it to them.