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I bought a LED headlight of J&P Cycle cause it said it will fit my 1988 Sporty but with all the wires in the headlight housing it wont fit all the way in, is there any way I could get a headlight housing thats deeper or re wire the cables out of the headlight housing so its just the headlight cable.
Deeper housing, possibly, might not fit the eyebrow though. Rewiring, definitely, but good luck! When my sealed beam went out on my 1991, I bought a later model headlamp off CL, with replaceable bulb. It fit fine, and I don't ride at night, so going LED wasn't important to me. I also was afraid I might run into what you have with an LED retrofit.
Does your 1988 have an H4 connector, or just three wires?
Good luck! Keep us informed of what you end up doing.
John
Last edited by John Harper; Mar 5, 2023 at 02:11 PM.
Deeper housing, possibly, might not fit the eyebrow though. Rewiring, definitely, but good luck! When my sealed beam went out on my 1991, I bought a later model headlamp off CL, with replaceable bulb. It fit fine, and I don't ride at night, so going LED wasn't important to me. I also was afraid I might run into what you have with an LED retrofit.
Does your 1988 have an H4 connector, or just three wires?
Good luck! Keep us informed of what you end up doing.
Yep, that's pretty much what mine looks like inside. Spaghetti on steroids.
I opted for the stock later model headlight and just use a 55/60 watt bulb. It fits right in. Unless you're dead set on an LED. There are a lot of stock HD capsule bulb headlights on Ebay or CL, as people install LED. I got mine for $15, with bulb.
I was surprised to find out the stock sealed beam was only 35/40 watts!!! Even 55/60 is a big upgrade if you've still got a sealed beam style.
John
Last edited by John Harper; Mar 5, 2023 at 05:28 PM.
Looks like someone has been in there and added some wires for something (with the black electrical tape). Usually if you get them out and use good cable management along with making them all go in one direction, you will have more room.
On my 2003 XLH1200S, I made them all go in a clockwise direction and pushed them to the back so I had room for a LED setup, still it was a tight fit.
I found a extended headlight 2.0 in trim ring on Dennis Kirk I ordered one and Ill give that a try to see if it works, on some reviews people are having the same issues with not being able to fit an led and it help. As for the mess off wires bought the bike like that, honesty looking to get a new complete wiring harness cause Im looking to do all new controls and led turn signals even ordered badlands Illuminator for running lights and their turn signal canceler so I dont have to keep holding down the damn turn signal buttons to keep them flashing.
Mt 77's headlight shell looks worse than that. I put a Badlands Illuminator 3 on my 77 XLH 1000. Now I have self-canceling turn signals, rear turn signals running lights AND 4 way flashers. Did an alternator conversion, so I tossed the sealed beam and put in a headlight from my Wife's 04 Sportster (got her an LED so I reporposed it to the 77)
with the H-4 bulb. That H-4 bulb does a damn fine job at night.
Is it a plug and play or did you have to wire it in? I may need to order that instead to have all I need instead of installing two lighting controllers
Last edited by CipherViper; Mar 6, 2023 at 01:37 AM.
The Badlands Illuminator 3 is NOT PLUG N PLAY. Gotta hard wire it. It comes with very clear instructions and wire diagrams. It does eliminate the mechanical flasher in the headlight shell, but still not enough room for an LED headlight.
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Headlight question
