I am thinking about making my tour pak removable on my '05 ultra classic. The local h-d dealer is telling me that it requires many hours to do this and that it is not recommended on an Ultra Classic. Is this true and are there any do's and dont's and what should I expect as far as $$$. Help [sm=dontgetit.gif]

 

UltraGeezerGlide just did his. You can see a pic of it under "Taking the dress off of the Dresser". I did it to my Classic, as have many others on the board. I even built a rack so I can hang the Tour Pac on the wall when not in use.

I don't think MANY hours is quite right. I think it took me about 2 hours to do mine. An Ultra would be a little more because of the rear speakers and the CB antenna, but probably not more than 4.

I'm sure that UltraGeezerGlide will chime in and give you all the details on the Ultra.

Regards,

Bill

 

It took about 2 hours to change the whole thing over. Take off your saddlebags. Once you remove the inner liner of the tour pak, you unplug the lights and antennas. Take out the two rubber grommets , and pull the wires through. Pull the passenger headset plug out of the holder and disconnect the spring. Gently pull the speaker wires out of the holes in the bottoms of the speaker pods and disconnect the plugs. You can now coil up the two sets of wires and stow them under the seat and the left side cover. Remove the bolts holding the tour pak frame in place and take the tour pak off.
Install the detachable mounting hardware and adjust as necessary to the mounting rack before you put the tour pak on the rack. I had to put a washer between the front mounting points and the frame to get the proper spacing. Install the saddlebag spacers and adjust the saddlebag mounting brackets for proper alignment. Install the tour pak on the detachable rack while it's still on the bike, and that's it. Disconnecting the wiring in the tour pak only takes about ten minutes, and is the only thing extra to be done with the Ultra as opposed to the other models. For short trips, I don't even bother hooking them back up. If I want to take a longer trip, then I'll take the extra 15 minutes to reconnect all the wires.
You will need a new license plate bracket (I used the laydown license plate bracket),and you'll have to do something with your radio antenna. I only listen to CD's or my XM, so I haven't even bothered with mine. A lot of the guys are using the Dakota Digital antenna mounted under the fairing. With that, you'd never have to worry about your radio antenna again. The CB will not work with the tour pak and CB antenna removed. On a difficulty scale of 1 to 10, I'd rate it about a 3, with the most difficult part being the quick detach mounting hardware. I hope this helps/

 

the only issue is the antenna, the stock one can't be beat.the dakota digital is garbage and no am ,poor fm and no weather.

 

You can get the H-D antenna relocating kit and mount it to that.

 

I have the Dakota Digital and get AM/FM as good as the unit in my 2002 Silverado Pickup. I am also able to get the weather band part of the time, even though Dakota Digital says the antenna will not work with the weather band. As I have XM radio I use the weather stations there and don't worry about the weather band.

If, however, you want to use the factory HD antenna, HD makes an antenna relocation kit for the stock unit.

Regards,

Bill

 

I agree with the others I did the same to my '03 Ultra Classic. The factory doesn't recommend it because of the wires involved. It's a no brainer frankly. Take the wires and wrap them in Zip Ties. Then place your wires in Zip Lock bags and stuff them under your seat. The hardest part was getting everything to line up while installing the Docking Station Hardware. The instructions are a bit vague, but if you follow your best judgment everything should work out nicely. Whatever you do, don't be in a hurry to do this. Take your time and get it done right. In the long run you will be much happier with your bike. It's like having 2 bikes in 1. Check out my pic.

 

Thanks for all the info, you just saved me a ton of money. This is something I can do myself. Thanks, this is the best HD sight I have ever been on. I will post some before and after pics along the way.

 

UltraGeezerGlide
I don't suppose you could post part numbers for the items you purchased to complete the transition? Please please please.

Thansk Rich

 

Rich,

These are the parts and #'s I used on my bike to transform it to the sleeker look:
53276-04 Quick detach tour pak rack
53804-06 Detach mounting hdwe
46565-04 Saddlebag support kit
91140-04 Hidden rear fender support
52214-05 SE EGlide seat
51804-02 Chrome Billet Seat Bracket
52447-96 Trim Filler
57185-05 6-1/2" dark windshield
69308-02 Smoked turn signal lenses
Laydown license plate bracket (Aftermarket non HD part)
59081--96 Bar and Shield fender tip light lenses

Hope this helps