last night I tried to install my wiring into my LA chopper prime ape but was unsuccessful running the wire through. I have shrink wrapped all my wiring to protect the wires but still its a tight fit.

watched a video or two on youtube and specifially one form br handlebars and noticed he ran his wires bare with out any shrink wrap. So what did you guys do to your bars? help is appreciated

 

No shrink wrap... Lubed with ky... Pull carefully

 

We would all run them bare if we didn't have the other end connected to our controls. I dbl wrapped mine in electrical tape then used a professional grade wire lube used for pulling wires through conduit. Take your time and pull on one end while pushing on the other. I also ran the TBW and other harness simultaneously.

 

My 2012 RK was a piece of cake installing wiring. All handle bar controls and the TBW extension went through the bar like butter. Although, I did carefully remove that plastic stock factory covering over the controls & the TBW. Then used heat shrink tubing to re-cover wiring. It made them nice and flat and smooth.

On the 2002 E.G. it was spliced at different lengths. Using Yaffe 16 inch Bagger Apes I think? It was a pain in the butt-ox. I used what I call stove pipe wire to pull them through and NOTHING else to lubricate them to slide through. Just did not like the idea of having a bunch of lubricate inside my handle bars. Just me...it's subjective on here?

Used electrical tape on one end with stove wire and pulled them through slowly. Took awhile but it went through.

PS...No heat shrink covering? This might work but take note when pulling them through the bars...It easy to cut one of those wires on the bars. Especially at top side hand control area...I would not recommend this myself...IMHO?

 

If you use heat shrink, the key is to not shrink it all the way down. Doing so makes it more rigid.

I've done several sets of apes over the past 18 months on various bikes, including 2 sets of the Paul Yaffe bars, which are similar to yours.

Use lubricant, like the conduit lube suggested earlier. It's available at Lowes/Home Depot.

I also start by dropping a small chain through the bars, and then attaching a 3/16 vinyl coated cable, also available at Lowes/Home Depot. Then, I attach the wiring to that cable.

It's a matter of pushing and pulling. An extra set of hands is helpful, though not needed.

It's also best to run the TBW cables through, and not seat them fully into the bar. Then start the controls, and run them almost all the way until seated. Lastly, pull both sets of those wires to finish together, seating the TBW sensor and the controls at the same time. After that, the left side is easy as pie.

 

Baby powder or wd 40 can help when sliding the cables through the bars. First check for a big lump where the wires are soldered. they need to be staggered so that they do not get stuck. You can slide the wiring back and forth a bit to get it through as well.

 

The lube I mentioned evaporates and leaves no residue

 

No lube, heat-shrinked & used a small chain from the depot zip-tied to the wires in two places. I used the push pull method while the wife steadied the bars on the table. Couldn't have taken more than 4-5mins each side.

 

I just did mine last weekend, I had heat shrink on all the wires and was able to get the clutch side through fairly quickly with a little white lithium grease and a welding type wire to pull them. The throttle side was another story, I got both sets through but could never get them at the same time. I finally gave up and paid the dealer 2 hours labor to run them. Still saved me a grand even with them doing that part. Mine are the 12" Yaffe monkey bars, similar to yours. I think if I removed the TBW plug it would have been an easier job on that side.

 

When I installed the Prime Apes on my '05 FLHTCI I left the factory wrap on the wires, made sure to stagger the splices and wrapped the newly spliced portion in electrical tape, pulled through with some twine I had laying around and that was it. Took about 20 min total to do both sides at the bench.