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[hverbakel]

Getting cooler here in Southern Ontario so I went for my last ride of the season the other day. My radio works fine but has the dreaded LED display issues that I planned on fixing this winter. Riding along , enjoying the brisk air and sunshine when the radio dies. No power at all. So , i pulled of the outer fairing when I got home and realized the vertical brackets and the one horizontal speaker bracket were all cracked and broken. Did a little research here on the forum and apparently this is somewhat typical. I can fix them no problem. MY concern is the radio. I dug a little deeper and found this bunch of wires, red, blue black with green stripe, and a thicker all black wire. If you look close at the picture you can see the red wire and the black with green stripe wire have some chafing. I wonder if this would have caused the radio to quit working. I checked the fuses and they all seem good. Any thoughts on the wiring issue would be appreciated.

[murphy]

Three words - Iron Cross Audio!

Won't matter that you fix the bracket, you will always have the radio issue now.

Do a search, you'll see.

[hverbakel]

So was the bare wire responsible for the radio quitting altogether? I was intending on sending the radio off to get repaired anyway because of the LCD issue, and I will fix the brackets. If I tape off, or shrink wrap the wires in the chafed areas then I assume eveyrthing will be fine won,t it?

[Twolanerider]

From the pic any accurate condition of the wire/wiring can't be discerned.  If it's chafed rewrap it.  If you're concerned it's broken cut it and crimp in a good sealing/soldering butt connectors or wrap and solder.  It's a small fix either way.  That leaves the question of Iron Cross.  For the gain in reliability they can provide for the price they offer it makes no sense not to send them the radio if it's already accessed and you have any doubts about the radio at all.

[murphy]

Twolanerider's right, I have on 06 as well and am on my fourth radio, soul have been fifth but the last time I swore it would never happen again and shipped it to Iron Cross.

There are internal issues that are affecting your display, other prevention steps are taken when they open it up so you'll never have to pull it out again.

Like I said, do a topic search, you'll see.

[grc]

As noted above, there are two issues.  First, determine the integrity of the damaged wires.  If just chafed but otherwise structurally sound, a good repair with some fusion type electrical tape and then rewrapping the harness might be all you need.  If a wiggle test indicates an actual break in the wires, or close visual inspection indicates any broken strands, a better approach would be as Twolanerider suggested, cutting out the damaged area and splicing in some new wire, then rewrapping the harness.  Then send the radio off for proper repair.  Those who have just had Harley replace those radio's with more of the same have been reporting repeat failures since 2006, so I agree with the others that you will be better off sending it to Iron Cross and having it fixed right.

Btw, those fairing and speaker brackets have been improved since 2006, so you might want to just replace all four pieces while you've got everything torn apart.  I did the bandaid repairs on a couple ocassions on my '05, only to have the bracket break again in a different spot, but I've had no further problem since installing all new brackets.

Jerry

[hverbakel]

Thanks for all your help and insight guys, much appreciated!  on to another topic, the heated grips have never worked and i have read that they are also a constant repair on these  bikes. The fuse is fine. Is there anything under the fairing that could be the source of the malfunctioning grip heaters. I may as well check it out while I am in there.

[chaos901]

As stated previously, the replacement brackets are much better than the original.  Just replace the brackets. 

Replaced both the outside brackets last week when one of them broke on my '08.  Started to walk out of the dealership with just the one needed to replace the broken bracket and figured that was stupid so I got both since I had the fairing off already. 

[Ironhorse]

The grips are a poor design. If you replace them with the same you'll be replacing those soon enough. Most folks go with heat demons.

[blacktop]

So was the bare wire responsible for the radio quitting altogether? I was intending on sending the radio off to get repaired anyway because of the LCD issue, and I will fix the brackets. If I tape off, or shrink wrap the wires in the chafed areas then I assume eveyrthing will be fine won,t it?

Where do you think you'll send it? The reason I ask is that I see your in Canada and Iron Cross is in the US.

[hverbakel]

There is a place in Toronto, AM sales, with ads on Kijiji that repair the radios. I can drop it off and pick it up. No shipping costs.