This is kinda long but worth reading if you are concidering the Custom Light Kit.

Now let me say I have installed other electrical items on my bike with great results. I installed the iPod kit on the radio and the bullet tail light bar. Both great kits. everything you needed to complete a factory like fit and finish. No spicing, hacking, or other bull$**** that would make you think twice about installing the items........

The Light kit I am refering to is :69227-04A
Using the Bullet turn siginals :69230-04
Page 640 in the 2012 Harley accessory catalog.

I have a 2011 Limited in Light / Dark Candy Rootbeer and decided to have a dealer do the custom passing lamp upgrade as part of a winter storage deal. Here is where the trouble began...... When I picked up my old parts all the connectors were cut off the OEM passing lamps. I wanted to know WTF...... So I had the service adviser open a kit for the Street Glide because they did not have the same kit they used on my Limited and low and behold all the connectors were there and pins to crimp on and so on... Nothing to indicate what I ended up with......

I just assumed too much...... Key word...... assumed...... The Street Glide kit is for a bike that does not currently have passing lamps so I knew there were extra stuff in there I would not use for my bike. I assumed that the kit for a bike that came with passing lamps, which I beleive what this kit is marketed for, would be plug and play. Have all the crimped connectors to plug right in where the old one was removed. And to have the proper delphi connectors in the lamp housings to connect your stock passing lamp bulbs per the product description.....

Boy was I wrong!!!!

After some heated discussion with the service writer and service manager (who had never installed this kit before)....... And looking up the installation instructions on Harley's parts web site I was appalled at how Harley instructs you to install this lighting kit.

I would have expected this from Kyurakan but not Harley.

The instructions tell you to cut off the connectors on the end of the factory passing lamp assembly and use the included but splices to connect them to the new Custom passing lamp assembly. Then to cut off the delphi connectors in the factory passing lamp assembly and use the included but splices to connect them to the new Custom passing lamp assembly if you are reusing the factory passing bulbs.

This just about makes me puke..... This kit is not $100 or $200..... It is $290...... It is marketed as an upgrade..... They know exactly what bikes it will be going on and the connectors to use to make this kit a quality, plug and play, looks like factory installed kit. I really think Harley missed the boat on this one...

Now I have a $24k bike with a passing lamp wiring harness that has ben cut and spliced together. Now I am trying to figure out how I am going to repair this without turning it into a bigger mess...... If I had purchased this kit and went to install it myself I would have never have used it... It is crap in my opinion.

I am just frustrated about this whole thing..... I learned to go and read the installation instruction for any product I am thinking of using or having installed on my bike before doing so.....

I would install this product again but I would buy the kit for the Street Glide instead because it has everything in it to install it right.... Well worth the extra $20 bucks to me..

 

You installed it anyway?
I wouldnt have.

 

I did not install it...... Had the dealer do it as part of a winter storage deal...... My mistake...

 

For what it's worth! JMO) I wouldn't be impressed either with the install but having said that I don't know what the problem is unless you're planning on taking the lights on and off. I'm sure the shop made good connections and all the wiring must be out of sight. Forget about the connections and enjoy the lighs.

 

Damn, that's a lot of BS over a couple of spliced wires..
I put that kit on my bike, the new turn signals didn't come with connectors, so I had
to splice them in, soldered them in, no big deal. I don't see what all the fuss is about.
It's a couple of wires that nobody will ever see!!
you had "heated discussion with the service writer and the service manager" over a couple of spliced wires? I bet they were shaking their heads when you left..

sorry your not happy with your wires, but damn man, it's nothing!
I would hate to see how you get over something serious!!

 

I am a perfectionist..... I am concerned about a splice in the lamp housing and what is the point of having a water tight delphi connector if there is a common butt splice 2 inches away...... I don't know what was used. It could be a 3M heat shrink with epoxy butt splice but I do not know....

I will inspect their work when I get the bike back in the spring (I will have the faring off to upgrade the speakers) and I will fix what I do not like....

I guess I wanted to warn anyone concidering this upgrade to really look at it and know what your getting or what to expect before doing the mod....

And I will enjoy the lights. They really clean up the front end and I like the look alot!

 

What he said.
And, I think somebody needs to get laid.

 

exactly. The instructions for both kits are available as pdf downloads, you can find out exactly what's involved before you buy the kit. The less expensive kit saves some money by re-using some of the existing electrical connectors from the take-off componants, including the pin connectors for the passing lamps that are coming off the bike. The old passing lamps don't need the pin connectors anymore, unless you're thinking about swapping back and forth between the old passing lamp brackets and your new one. The butt splices are hidden up inside your fairing, out of the weather, along with a bunch of similar electrical connections.

If the butt splices bother you so much, just pull the connector apart, cut the butt splices out of the wiring and wire in some new pin connectors. There's plenty of wiring coming off the lamps that you can shorten the harness by a couple of inches. Grab a soldering iron and do it yourself, then have a beer and admire your work when you're done. Or forget about it and worry about something important.