How do you get the battery out of an 04 Sportster? I have taken the side cover off, disconected the pos. cable and the batt hold down clamp. But how the hell are you supposed to get to the neg. cable? The nag. cable hangs up on the the down tube so I can't pull the battery out to disconect the neg. cable. Is there something here I am missing?

 

I havent pulled the battery from a sportster, but perhaps you can disconnect the ground cable from the frame and slide the battery out then.

 

It's a tight fit but once you have the hold down clamp off and the positive disconnected slide the battery out a couple of inches then disconnect the negative cable from the terminal.Be very careful you do not touch the positive side of the battery with your wrench when doing this.Cover the pos. terminal with some electric tape prior to sliding the battery out and disconnecting the neg. terminal just to be safe.It will scare the sh*t out of you if you touch the pos.side so better safe then sorry.Also,be careful when putting the battery back in.You have wires that go to your speedo and instrument panel.They run down the frame right in front of the negative terminal.They are wrapped in protective coating and if they are not sitting in front of the tray when sliding the battery back in you might pinch them or strip them causing a short.Take your time and don't force anything and you should be alright.

 

I was just at a dealer and talked to a mechanic about how the 04 and 05's have their battery layout. He told me to remover the negitive off the block first, then the positve, and then the hold down and slide the battery out. I've got a project that I need to relocate the battery for, so this time I talked with the machanics instead of teh sales people and got alot more help. The guys where stoked about my plans and offered any help they could give.