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Because the stock headlight on my FXSTS SUCKS, I ordered a Custom Dynamics LED headlight to replace it. Plug and play, right? RIGHT??
This isn't a slam on their product. No, no, this is a slam partly on my wrenchin' skills or lack thereof, and partly on the er, ah, unusual, IMNSHO, HD wiring.
I removed the stock unit, no sweat. However, when I unplugged the block from the lamp unit, the wee ground wire broke. It was routed behind the 3-bolt plate that holds the thing, and apparently had chafed on the plate and was finally severed when I pulled the plug. I figured I would simply solder the thing back together and be back in business.
Oh, no, I couldn't solder it because I needed to get the plate out of the way. I can't remove the shell because the plate is attached to a bracket fixed to the fork assy by 5/16" bolts.
Of course, you all know what comes next: I tried to remove the 3 rubber-mounted bolts holding the plate in place. Ha. I'm going to need replacements.... I then thought, "Gee, if I took the 5/16 bolts off the fork, I could slip it off and then get to soldering. Naturally, the bolts won't budge without a LOT of force, and right now I don't want to break anything else. I realized I needed, once again, the wisdom of the list. See pix below.
Here's the plate we all know and love so well.
I pulled the severed wire forward to be more visible. It is fastened to the through-fixture that the ring screws into, and went back into the shell, around the back of the plate, breaking there, and then went to the plug.
Here's the bolt holding the bracket in place.
I could find nothing in the HD Service Manual addressing the issue of replacing the headlight other than removing the ring and unplugging the unit and plugging the new one in. HELP!
I haven't looked around inside my Springer head light bucket.... yet....
But you say one end of that ground wire is attached to a bolt, and the other half goes into the headlight plug... correct....?
Can't you just extend the pigtail on the ground wire extending from the plug, and then either ground it to one of the other bolts, or use the extended wire to have more room to reattach it to the other half....?
I know pics are often deceptive based on angles and perspective, but couldn't you just use a good marine butt splice to reconnect the broken wire...? I ran boats offshore in San Diego for 30 years... I used marine butt splices on everything from VHF radio, Radar, GPS, and inverter installs, to name a few... If a good marine butt splice will survive in a boat bilge in offshore ocean conditions, it will survive the head lamp bucket of a Springer...
The ground wire was connected to a rivet, not a bolt - my bad - which held an L shaped piece to the shell. At the other end of the thing (under the shell) is the receiver for the headlight ring screw.
In my zeal to git 'er done, I simply wanted to remove the shell, solder the two ends back together with shrink wrap covering the connection, and reattach. Not gonna happen. I *thought* the shell could be removed, but it is turning out to be more complicated than that BECAUSE I tried to remove the rubber-grommitted 3 screws holding the plate, which turns out to be attached to the fork by its own bracket.... SO, I need to replace the rubber grommits and who knows what else when I am finally finished. The things that should be simple aren't often that.
What I SHOULD have done was to do pretty much what you are saying, to fish the rivet end out from behind the plate, done the soldering with maybe a short pigtail to once again go around the bracket with enough slack to not chafe, and then back down to the plug. Now I have even more work to do because I was in a slight hurry. If that wire hadn't broken, I'd be done by now!
I've looked at the parts fiche and can't seem to find the bracket attaching the light to the fork, OR the rubber grommits/screws. WTF?! The service manual has no items regarding this particular bracket assy, let alone torque values to reattach it. Have I missed them somewhere?
There are two things I'm grateful for with all of this: 1) the folks on this list who help out others, and 2) that I didn't wait until right before riding season to try this.
The shell is free - the *isolators* ("grommets" - your term is better!), are undone, but it is still captured in place by the bracket fixed to the fork which passes through the shell. The plate they were attached to is mounted to the bracket.... This arrangement MUST have been designed by committee. Well, SOMEONE thought it was a good design.
I don't see anything even in the same ballpark as a simple fix. I shoulda done it the way Hattitude said. The motto of this story is:
Don't be in an all-fired hurry to get what initially seems to be a simple project done quickly. It isn't, and you won't. Think it through from all angles.
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Headlight woes
