So, I took care of relocating the turn signals on my Springer Classic today in preparation for a detachable luggage rack and eventually saddlebags. First, I have to question why the heck they design the motorcycle so that the turn signals need to be moved back a half inch to support the detchable hardware. If the relocation kit was more expensive I could buy that they do it to sell the relocation hardware, but the standard relocation hardware is only around $30 so they can't be making a big profit on that.

That being said, however, I went with a different relocation kit. They have a kit numbered 69929-07 that uses the existing turn signal mounts, but it puts extensions on the fender rails that move the signal back a couple inches. To go with the detachable bags I want, LeatherPros pretty much said I need to use this relocation kit. Here is where I have to wonder why HD designs things the way they do.

First I go to figure out how the tombstone taillight is set up, and it's a bit more complicated to get to plugs than the standard taillight is. Once I get that figured out, I discover that the plugs that go from the turn signals into the tail light harness are different than the standard plugs. This causes two issues. One is that, where the plugs for a standard softail will fit through the holes in the fender and fender rail, this plug is a little larger so it will not fit. The second is that the plug extender that comes with the relocation kit will not work. So, I'm stuck with cutting the wires and splicing in a length of wire to extend things. I would have preferred not to have to do this, but I've done it before on my Sportster, so it wasn't a big deal.

Then I discover that the bolts they include for bolting the turn signals on to the rail extension are too short. I "guess" standard softail turn signal stalks are shorter than those on the Springer Classic? So, I have to wrangle up a 3 1/2" bolt to use if I want to have the nice chrome backs on the extensions, but for now I just use the standard bolts and have to skip putting on the chrome back.

So, I have to wonder why HD can't just use the same plugs for all their 2 wire connections, and why they can't use the same turn signal stalk lengths, and really why they can't just design the parts to support the add on harware they KNOW a good portion of people will want to use.

In the midst of all this I stripped the head on one of the fender rail mounting bolts, and those torx pan head bolts aren't exactly standard equipment at the hardware store, so now I likely get to buy a replacement for that at the dealership. That was a dumb mistake where I forgot to change out for the larger torx bit when tightening that one. Luckily I didn't get it very tight, so it was easy enough to remove.

Been a helluva day but the stuff is installed, which is nice. Now I just have to figure out why the damn V&H mufflers I bought do not fit.

 

I'm in the process of relocating my rear turn signals on my 2000 FXST. I got the kit from the dealer (68548-87A) and started to work on it this morning. I followed the directions and got to the point of cutting the wires. Once that was finished I tried to put on the strut extender and guess what? It is just slightly too small and the turn signal is off a hair as well. It seems as though this kit was made for a softail up to 1999. So now one turn signal wire is cut and I put the bike back together. Is the relocation kit that you are using to extend the strut or different?

 

Yep, the kit I'm using extends the strut. Unfortunately, it's a frustrating kit as far as figuring out compatibility. You can see the kit listed as a signal relocation option for some Fatboy saddlebags on the HD site, but when you search for the part number I listed no info comes up. The guy at the dealership had them in stock, but couldn't find a compatibility list in the system, so we opened them up to look and they "looked" like they would fit so I figured I'd give it a try. I now have some 3 1/2" machine bolts on order from some hardware site so that I can hopefully do things right in terms of putting the chrome backing on the strut extensions.

It definately sucks that you have the wires cut and discovered that the part doesn't fit. I was living in fear of that while I was working on this yesterday, but luckily I have the standard signal relocation kit that I had bought before discovering this alternative, so I figured I had a backup plan if worst came to worst. Now I get to return the first kit I bought. I'm not sure how different the struts on your FXST are from my FLSTSC. Hopefully the dealer will be able to set you up with something without having to order it.

 

Not really familliar with the softail std. T/S kit, but it sounds similar to the FLST kits, and let me tell you me, what a friggin' PIA it was installing that kit. The thing that pi$$ed me off the most was having to cut all the wires, splice them back together, and in the end, all the wires were a tad too short to properly slip back into the inner fender wire looms. I ended up cutting the wires AGAIN, and adding 1.5" of wire so everything would fit properly up inside the fender. My 150 series rear tire has BARELY enough room clearing the fender. I didn't want my tire contacting the stretched T/S wires!

 

Well, I had typed up a long reply to this, but the POS server nuked it, so here's the short one:

I couldn't find a relo kit that took the signals off the struts, so I rigged up my own. I got a set of front signals off Ebay, a couple of black spacers and bolts for the signals, then drilled holes in the licence plate/taillight bracket and mounted them there. Then I plugged the strut holes with plastic body plugs. It turned out better than I'd expected and almost looks stock. Here are a few pics.

Cheers!

 

Clammy,

When you put the front signals on the rear did you have to change any wiring? Are they now running lights like the front ones? Where did you get the stems from that you mounted the lights on. Thanks!

 

Yeah, I had mentioned the wiring in my first post that got nuked. I spliced the 2 hot leads together, and used the original rear TS plug. I also had to grind off one of the guide pins on the insert - if you use bulbs, you'd have to do the ame to the bulb. They function as rear signals. That said, I have the Kuryakyn Panacea taillight/rear TS inserts and controller that makes the rear signals function as auxilliary driving lights, signal lights and auxilliary brake lights.

The "stems" are just black spacers the guys at the dealership gave me. I'm not sure what they were originally for, but you can use pretty much any 3/8" ID round stock.

I'm really surprised some company doesn't off this setup as a kit.

Cheers!
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Welcome the HD world. It is worse with Springers because many of the parts aren't interchangable with other softails....Ihave finally figured out how to get all the different set-ups on my bike that were available to the bike....It only took four years to figure out. I also went with the directional bar from a Deluxe...I was tired of hitting the struts every time I took the bags off.

 

Nice job, Clammy. Looks tight.

 

Thanks. The saying "necessity is the mother of invention" certainly applied in this case!

Cheers!
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