I have a 2007 softail that I purchased new and just realized that the factory installed battery tender pigtail was cut prior to me taking delivery. I only was made aware of it recently when I installed a HD factory tach and I had to remove the original 7 year old battery to get at the fuse panel.
The positive + side wire of the battery tender harness was clipped off after the inline fuse and a red cap was pinched onto the the clipped end of the wire and the remains of the positive wire terminal was apparently bent back and forth until it snapped off and it was still on the positive + post. There appears to be about 6" of the battery tender positive post charging wire missing.
I posted this on another HD site and I received no feedback and I called the Battery Tender customer service and they said they do not build them that way and are not aware of any HD factory reason to change their harness. This was done either at the factory or the selling dealer, as I have owned this bike from new and it was purchased with the change done prior to my ownership.
My concern is there a reason for the positive wire being clipped and sent out that way or did a HD tech need a 6" piece of wire and went to the effort to properly cap it off with a red factory looking cap.
The selling dealership was recently sold and some of the employees are not there to ask them about this issue.
Any help would be appreciated.
The factory didn't install those pigtails. Some dealers installed them during prep since it makes it easier for them to charge the batteries of bikes in inventory, and some actually did it as a form of customer service.
I can't imagine the dealer purposely butchering the harness the way you described while installing it, so I'm guessing it happened sometime later, perhaps when you were having service work done somewhere. At this point it's water under the bridge, and you can just buy another pigtail and install it. The basic one Harley sells goes for $8.95 MSRP, part number 94624-97B.
Jerry