I love the Fat Bob handlebar and can't stand the bar on my '10 Wide Glide. The dealer said it would be a simple change out, so I ordered the Fat Bob bars ($150). Now they're in, and they're telling me they were wrong and because the bars are internally wired they will have to take off the gas tank. They want to charge me 6 hours of labor! Is it really that hard?

Is this a changeout anyone else has made? I'll do it myself if I can. There's no way I'm paying $500 in labor. I searched for an hour to find a "How-To" post but didn't have any luck.

Thanks for the help guys.

 

So...you could tell them not to internally wire them...

or

do the job yourself.

Also, it DOES NOT require you remove the tank AT ALL. Raise the front up for access to the harness within the backbone, yes. All out removal...NO.

 

...and as a point of reference:

https://www.hdforums.com/forum/dyna-...ghlight=Indica

 

Awesome, thanks. I'm going to give it a shot myself. I'm an electrician by trade, so the wiring part shouldn't be too hard.

 

Also,

this isn't necessarily the easiest way but it will get you there.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52clbzQ2reg

 

So basically, you stand around with your hands in you pockets all day. LOL
J/K I couldn't resist, I'm always harassing the electricians at work. Good luck on the project!! Pics when done.

 

...and charge $70 an hour to do it

Actually I work in an office, so I'm kind of a pretend electrician (but I am licensed).

Anyone can do it, just remeber black to black white to white

I'll be sure to post the pictures when I'm done. I might even do a how to set for future guys like me.

 

How did the insall go? A friend of mine wants to do the same to his. Post pics, too

 

I changed out the bars on my Fat Bob. Was time consuming because I had to pull the wiring connectors apart but I did it in 3 hours in my garage so either your dealer is full of fat lazy ****tards or they charge everything by the book regardless of if it actually takes that long which is the "hooray for me and **** you" way to run a business.

I would suggest making a diagram of the wires as you get them apart cause its 8+3 on one side for controls and turn signal and 6+3 on the other side and the control strands are all different colors plus you need to orient them according to the internal guide in the connector. Being internally wired the connectors have to come off in order to work the wire strands and braided wrap out of the bars and then slide them into the new bars which is a royal pain in the ***. Like I said time consuming but not rocket science, well maybe not for us anyways as the dealer seems to think it is. The braided wrap is the biggest pain in the process cause that **** catches on every slightly jagged surface it comes in contact with and the inside of the bars were never polished so the openings like to grab the wrap. Try not to pull the wires out so much as feed the slack into the bars and then slinky worm pull the excess out and reverse that feeding them into the new bars by feeding as much as will fit into the bars and then lightly pulling that portion out of the center holes. Otherwise you'll discover the edge of the holes in the bars just chewed up the braided wrap quite a bit.

Or skip all of that and just run externally wired if your willing to grind off some of the controls surface around the bars which I did when I swapped to 1" non internal. I'm on my 3rd set of bars and still not quite satisfied with the look and feel

As far as the wires under the tank you can actually get them out of the recess under the tank without moving the tank but if you got big hands like me its just easier to lift the tank up high enough to get at the opening in the front of the frame just under the triple trees. There is a plastic protector that covers the opening in the frame where you can access the wiring harness and honestly that was more of a pain in the *** to keep out of the way than the tank was. Also remember not to slide your throttle grip tight against the new bars as they should actually be about 1/4" or so away from the bars so they snap back freely when you let go. Try them repeatedly before you snug them down or you might find your throttle will stick which is bad.

 

I know this is and old thread but was wondering what the result was and if there is any photo. I'm thinking about doing the same thing to mine and would like to see it done to help me in my decision.