Need advise-Fender Chop & Tail Light Removal
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Road Captain
Joined: Aug 2008
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Need advice-Fender Chop & Tail Light Removal
I am about to chop the rear fender on my 08 1200C and want to remove the center mounted tail light. I just purchased the run/brake/turn module in order to covert my turn signals to brake lights. I understand that I will have to do some rewiring as I will be deleting the circuit board on the center tail light which feeds the turn signals now. Will using my turn signals as stop lights be bright enough as my only brake lights? My understanding is that I will retain single filament bulbs, while the iron/nightsters use dual filament which are brighter.
I want to do it right the first time and want to avoid tearing apart my turn signals and rewiring to accept dual filament bulbs.
Any advise is appreciated. Thanks!
I want to do it right the first time and want to avoid tearing apart my turn signals and rewiring to accept dual filament bulbs.
Any advise is appreciated. Thanks!
That's how I did my wife's XLC. Well, I shaved the tail light instead of chopping the fender but the lighting is stock turn signals converted with the module and they're plenty bright.
You don't need to do a big re wire. All I did was find the turn signal wires coming straight from the module and unpinned the unnecessary ones to make the wiring much more slim.
You don't need to do a big re wire. All I did was find the turn signal wires coming straight from the module and unpinned the unnecessary ones to make the wiring much more slim.
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Road Captain
Joined: Aug 2008
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Thanks mreed! I put the module on today and the lights look plenty bright. This is my first time to do any real work on my bike. I got the service manual tonight and got her torn down. Rear fender is completely off and ready to chop this weekend.
I will take your advice on the wiring for the turn signals/brake lights. I also have a side mount licence plate bracket that I need to wire the plate light up as well.
Now for the fun part.....chop chop. I will update you guys on the progress. I've been wanting to do this for quite some time but haven't had the ***** the chop up my shiny baby. No turning back now.....
I will take your advice on the wiring for the turn signals/brake lights. I also have a side mount licence plate bracket that I need to wire the plate light up as well.
Now for the fun part.....chop chop. I will update you guys on the progress. I've been wanting to do this for quite some time but haven't had the ***** the chop up my shiny baby. No turning back now.....
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Joined: Oct 2007
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From: USA
Do you not want the lamps to operate as running lights also? If so you will need to use dual filament bulbs and fixtures. That is what I did. No module on my '96 (hard wired) but same idea.
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Road Captain
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They are working as running lights too. The module takes care of this.
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Joined: Sep 2011
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From: Detroit, MI
I installed a badlands load equalizer on my 2008 1200c. I didnt get rid of the circuit board. I ran the board, extended the turn signal wiring, shortened the rear fender harness and hooked everything up.
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It's as simple as using just the turn signal wires from the module, red lenses and stock rear turn signals. The Badlands load equalizer only provides resistance for L.E.D. turn signals to flash...and you cannot simply install dual fillament bulbs UNLESS you have 3 wire lights BUT you still need some sort of module or relay bank or applying the brakes will override the flash signal. Wire 1 is ground, Wire 2 is basic light and Wire 3 is brighter light. Turn signals are dumb units, meaning, they only do what they're told. If you are trying to run a turn signal and then hit the brakes Wire 3 will stay on negating the flash.
Actually, I just found this pic. I didn't remove any wires from the module. I removed the unnecessary wires from the stock tail light harness that plugs in to the module. This is the harness that runs down the fender.
The brown wire will now run straight to the violet wire on the RIGHT side turn signal. The violet wire will now run straight to the viloet wire on the LEFT side turn signal. The black wire is a ground so that wire will need to be split and run to both turn signals.
Leave the BLUE wire if you want to leave yourself a constant power for the license plate light. I removed it because I drilled a hole in the bottom side of the red lense and light shines down onto the plate for plenty of night time plate lighting.
This is for a 2004. I'm pretty sure yours should be the same...or similar enough.
Actually, I just found this pic. I didn't remove any wires from the module. I removed the unnecessary wires from the stock tail light harness that plugs in to the module. This is the harness that runs down the fender.
The brown wire will now run straight to the violet wire on the RIGHT side turn signal. The violet wire will now run straight to the viloet wire on the LEFT side turn signal. The black wire is a ground so that wire will need to be split and run to both turn signals.
Leave the BLUE wire if you want to leave yourself a constant power for the license plate light. I removed it because I drilled a hole in the bottom side of the red lense and light shines down onto the plate for plenty of night time plate lighting.
This is for a 2004. I'm pretty sure yours should be the same...or similar enough.
Last edited by mreed; Apr 18, 2012 at 11:54 PM.
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Road Captain
Joined: Aug 2008
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Thanks for the advice guys. Check out this link for pics of the completed project!
https://www.hdforums.com/forum/sport...nder-chop.html
https://www.hdforums.com/forum/sport...nder-chop.html
Tourer
Joined: Mar 2012
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From: r.i.
you can remove the black plastic plug housing from inside your factory housing and relocate it forward of the tire and take out the light and chop the fender. i just did mine and i am very happy with how it turned out.