Well I have got the bug my wifes uncle warned me about! Upgrade/mod fever....!
I installed the areo wing luggage rack with aux tail light yesterday...almost
The rack was a no-brainer screw it on and forgetaboutit...
But the light is a different story. That install was flying along also until I took off the seat an searched up the tail light connector. The pigtail included with the softail kit was not even close! It had 2 rows of pin connectors with more pins, where my tail light connector only has one row of 6 pins. So I say to myself.... Self, this looks like a job for the guy who built your T/A (that would be me ;-).. Much backyard thought and beers in that one! I even called my parts salesman to see if I got the wrong light kit or something. We noted that the HD catalogue said "FLSTSE/2". To me (and the parts guy) this means either model...!
I also did not like the instructions having you route the wire down the frame rail and use the stick-on clips to hold the wire. It is hidden in the left rack rail and comes out a lil hole in the back of the rack but then down the side of our beautiful paint!!?? ALSO, even if the pigtail worked, you would have to remove the seat to disconnect the light wire to go "cruiser"....kinda defeating the purpose of the bike ... ConV fast!
So I looked at the rear of the bike and noted I did not want to drill a hole in the fender (paint thing again!)...but the chrome side rails seem to have a semi-hollow interior! So I took it off and sure enough there is space for the wires to run down the inside of the cover and out under the seat. I decided that the chrome side cover was cheaper to replace than the back fender so after checking the clearance of the fender/side cover fit I measured and notched the side cover in the place where the buddy bar removeable rack installs so my wire is hidden! NOW.....one more problem... The seat would STILL need to be removed to take the whole rack and pad off but it would not come off with the wire behind the chrome side cover. Hmmmmm... Well, there IS that useless pigtail...and I paid for it... i'll just cut off the 3 wire connector and mount the connector at the base of my chrome side cover where it will be hidden by the removable mount (except when I am cruising ConV style...but the connector is pretty small).
Just to make sure all this would work I matched the wire colors to the bikes wiring harness and pushed the tail light wires into the back of the tail light connector molex and hoped I would not ignite the battery compartment or something! But all worrked as HD specified when I turning on the ignition. Yeah!! I have not hooked up the wires at the molex connector as I was looking for something better than posi-locks but after much reading in the web I think this will be OK. Do that tomorrow! For now....enjoy the pix... Excuse the dirty bike!
And call me CRAZY for notching the chrome!
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Topic: Aero Wing Luggage Rack - Flying along then crash and burn! (Read 1678 times)