Agreed...JMC, nice scoot by the way...Ended up putting 14" on mine, took me a weeks time, no rush, soldering came out great...it can be done, no need for stealers!! good luck OP!

 

I did the handlebar swap on my (older) '04 Electraglide last year. I could see
that there was some welding slag inside the bars in the joint on the upper portion of the bars (the ones I have are similar to the pic I saw on this thread----they have a serious angle cut that are then welded and getting the wires through the bars and around that steep angle is difficult). I used a steel rod and rammed it into the slag to help knock off what I could but there was still some in there that was visible.
This fall I was riding along and noticed that the guages weren't working, nor the turn signals. Got home and found that I had a blown fuse that runs brake lights, passing lights, turn signals, and guages. Hmmmm....I figured the wire harness running through the bars got rubbbed the wrong way by leftover slag or a sharp edge so I pulled the h/bars off again (not fun on an EG). I pulled the wiring out of the bars and was admiring that I had done a really good job at trying to prevent any shorts inside there. I couldn't find any spots that had worn through, yet. I heard of guys having issues, sometimes multiple times, with those type bars and it had been in my mind so I decided to redo it in a way that would ease my mind. By the way, I later found the short; a p-clamp on the 2 into 1 exhaust broke down near the lower frame tube and vibrated into the brake light switch but I already had it torn apart pretty well so off I was on another repair/upgrade mission from hell.
Anyway, I ended up making a tool using a ball shaped burring tool (3/4 inch in diamteter) and welded the shaft of the ball-burr into a rigid hollow rod with a 1/4 inch hole through it that was long enough so that I could put in into an elelctric drill and ended up smoothing out that welded joint up inside the bars really well. Then I wrapped the switch wiring in 1" Kevlar wrap I got off ebay and got that pulled through the h/bars. I now feel that (cycle-god willing), I shouldn't have any problems in that area for many a mile and just wanted to tell you guys my experience in case someone wanted give their wiring job on those type bars a really good shot at being trouble free. Electrical problems can leave a guy on the side of the road or leave him riding without some of the lighting that helps keep us safe so a good idea is to be really fussy when doing that job with those types of h/bars.

 

Dude you can totally do this! I did mine no problem. one suggestion , search and watch as many youtube how to videos as you can find, especially ones on how to take apart and put back together the electrical connectors. You can do it!

 

My 16" twin peaks bars are in order from HCC already wired and should be in next week. I'll be doing it myself!!

 

Did mine myself and the wiring and connectors going internal is a PITA but I didn't de-pin them or cut and solder, just ordered extensions from NAMZ. Took about 6 hours or so all told, and most of that was messing with the wiring. I would hate to pay a dealer that time....

 

im thinking about doing apes myself and this is the route i will take if i do it myself. seems the biggest PITA is always the wiring not the fairing removal or cable/brake line removal and install.

 

On a Road King...piece of cake so erase everything the dealership nay-sayers put in your mind. Hardest part will be pulling cables, but take your time, use lots of grease and be patient. Also, show off the hard work when done...fruits of self-labor are always best!

 

Good post ^^^^^^

 

Yup. Paid a little more but worth it!!

 

Its not bad at all. just take your time with pulling the wires. It can get frustrating with those right angle bends. I did mine myself for my first time doing an ape install it took me a little over four hours. Good luck and don't forget to post pics.