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Instructions on Installing an Auxiliary Light Bar on a Harley Softail

Heritage Softails come equipped from the factory with a light bar. Well known aftermarket vendors like Kuryakyn and Harley-Davidson sell bolt-on auxiliary lighting for Softails. The extent to which extra lights brighten the road is open to debate. Many jurisdictions mandate that the extra light be turned off when the headlight is switched to high beam. But it is undeniable that the extra lights make the motorcycle brighter and make it, and the rider, easier to spot.

Instructions

EFI Fuel Tank Removal

1

Ride the motorcycle until the gas tank is almost empty.

2

Pull off the electrical caddy cover, on the right side of the motorcycle, with your hands. Pull the fuel pump fuse out of the fuse array with a fuse puller.

3

Run the engine until it dies. Push the starter button for another three or four seconds.

4

Pull both ends of the quick connect fitting under the gas tank in opposite directions until the two halves of the fitting come apart.

5

Loosen the screw that holds the rear fender and the seat together with a Phillips head screwdriver. Lift off the seat.

6

Loosen the black battery cable with a combination wrench. Pull the cable from the negative terminal.

7

Loosen and remove the nut in the middle of the instrument panel with an Allen socket and socket wrench. Pull the instrument panel up and pull the male and female halves of the fuel pump module connector apart.

8

Plug the end of a short length of 5/16 inch diameter, rubber hose with a bolt of the same size. Secure the bolt in the hose with a hose clamp and a screwdriver.

9

Place a 5 gallon gas can next to the motorcycle. Sever the clamp on either end of the crossover fuel line with metal shears.

10

Pull the loose end of the crossover line off the tank fitting and immediately replace it the open end of the 5/16 inch hose. Drain the crossover line into the 5 gallon can.

11

Clean up spillage with rags and remove the rags from the work location. Set the can aside.

12

Unplug the crossover and vent lines from the bottom of the tank. Unbolt both the front and rear mounting bolts, washers and nuts with a combination wrench. Unplug the male and female halves of the fuel gauge wiring plug.

13

Pull the tank off the motorcycle with your hands.

Auxiliary Lighting Installation

14

Attach the right and left light bar mounting clamps in the accessory lighting kit to the two fork tubes using the Allen screws in the kit and an Allen socket. Tighten both screws to 75 inch pounds of torque with the Allen socket and a torque wrench.

15

Thread the wires from the accessory lights through the holes in the mounting brackets and fasten the lights to the brackets with the washers, retainers and clamp blocks included with the kit. Tighten the retainers of 19 pounds with an open end socket and torque wrench.

16

Slip the inner nesting rings in the lighting kit onto the light bulbs in the kit. Lock the black wires to the black terminals next to the indexing tabs and the grey wires to the grey terminals.

17

Install the accessory light bulbs into the chrome trim rings using the screws included with the kit and a screwdriver. Thread the light wires through the chrome tubes in the kit.

18

Place the accessory lights wiring harness in the shallow pan that holds the seat. Stretch the longest wires along the backbone of the frame to the steering head.

19

Remove the hex nut from the ground wire stud with a combination wrench. Slide the ground wire ring from the accessory lighting wiring harness onto the stud and replace the nut.

20

Snap the white wiring harness connector into the "B" positive connector on the accessory lighting wire harness.

21

Tie the accessory harness to the main wiring harness with the cable ties included with the accessory lighting kit.

22

Stretch the longest wires in the auxiliary harness past the steering head. Route the light switch wires up the triple trees and across the left handlebar to the clutch lever cover.

23

Disassemble the chrome, switch mounting bracket with a Torx driver, install the light switch and reassemble the mounting bracket.

24

Remove the lower screw from the clutch lever housing with a Torx driver. Put the switch bracket tab over the hole and reinstall the screw. Tighten to 68 inch pounds using a torque wrench and Torx socket.

25

Push the light switch wiring harness into the handlebar wiring retainers. Remove the trim ring from the headlight with a Phillips head screwdriver.

26

Unplug the connector block from the headlight prongs. Unwrap the waterproof boot from the rear of the headlight.

27

Squeeze and remove the retaining clip from the headlamp assembly. Twist the clip away from the headlamp and remove the headlamp bulb.

28

Push the end of the light switch wire through the rubber ring in the headlight housing. Splice the switch wire to the yellow headlight wire using the crimp connecter in the lighting kit and a pair of pliers.

29

Replace the headlight bulb in the headlight housing.

30

Slip heat shrinkable tubing from the kit over the white wire in the accessory wiring harness. Strip the insulation from the end 1/4 inch of the two auxiliary lights power wires with a wire stripper.

31

Splice all three wires with the three-way tube connector in the kit using a crimping tool. Cover the connector with the heat shrink tube and heat with a heat gun until the tube shrinks around the splice.

Final Assembly

32

Secure all loose wires with the clips included in the kit.

33

Reattach the gas tank. Refuel the motorcycle.

34

Reconnect the black battery cable. Replace the fuel pump fuse.

35

Reattach the electrical caddy cover and seat.