Maybe I did not understand your post. You do not have to use the tank

speedo tach combo. HD has a tach that goes on the bars. see pics.

I will see where my wires go if it helps. No guarantee HD will wire

the same as the one you have. Let me know if I can help.

Pics are of a RK 2008

 

Thanks for all your help and suggestions.....I DID IT !!

For others out there that want a tach other than Harley's, here's how I did it on a RoadKing Classic. It was a handlebar mount and I picked up power and ground inside the headlight housing. I ran the sensor wire along the right side wiring tube and up into the dashboard at the front of the tank.

The tach output is pin 3 on the SPEEDOMETER plug. Forget what they may tell you about the ECM. You can get the special pin at a Harley dealer, just tell them you want a pin for the speedometer plug. If they tell you that it isn't listed for a RoadKing Classic, tell them to look at the RoadGlide book, it's listed there. The part number is listed on my invoice as 74196-04 Terminal Socket, 20 cents each.

The speedometer plug is a "Packard" plug and is reasonably complex, but easy to work with. As Jim Dawson hinted, there's a slide thingie that you push out from one side and pull completely out the other that releases the pins. Pin 3 is on the same side as the orange wire which is number 1. So pop the slide out, count two from the orange wire on the same side and pull out the protective plug they put in. Carefully crimp the pin onto a piece of 20 guage wire and then slide it completely into the Packard plug, replace the slide thingie and plug the speedo back in. Now, hook the wire to your tach sensor wire and enjoy.

You would not believe the run around I got on this. The manufacturer, Baron, has a tech that has been, "in a meeting" every time I call (daily) for a week and a half after I told him the instructions with the tach wouldn't work. I called Harley customer service and they were totally unhelpful..surprised? They gave me the instructions for a 2007 and when I pointed out that the 2008 was completely different, they said "Oh, that's right". But refused to look at the manual to suggest something. The dealer told me that since it was after market, I was on my own. When I pointed out that the speedo plug was pure Harley, they grumbled a bit but looked up the pin part number.

I thought the cool thing about a Harley was customizing it to your tastes; guess they don't agree with me.

Big thanks to everyone that contributed to this, I literally couldn't have done it without your help.