[GOTAFATTY?]

Like many others here, I am going to change out my bars here in another week or two. My horse is a 2004 FLSTFI. I have read many posts and have a good idea of what it is going to take to do the task. My question is: Is it necessary to remove the fuel tank to run the wires inside the bars? Is it because the connectors are under the seat? This is the only item that I am really a little unclear on.

[fatboyvtwin]

Being that you have a Fatboy you have split tanks. Most of the wiring runs between the tanks. When I had my 1998 Fatboy I just removed the center unit from between the gas tanks to splice into the wiring harness. It won't be necessary to remove the gas tanks. Ride Safe, David.

[VYBR8R]

the reason for removing the tanks is to get to the wiring plugs that are located along the backbone under the tank on the softail models. I would suggest getting a shop manual for your bike and you will be able to see exactly where the plugs are located. Also in the electrical section the manual shows how to remove the pins from the plugs. Become familiar with the procedures prior to starting the project. It is a very humbling experience when you take a partially disassembled, not running motorcycle back to the dealer to get it done right the second time. Extending wiring is not too hard a job, but it is time consuming and you need to know how to remove and reinstall the throttle cables and then get them properly adjusted. If you have to extend the wiring, you must solder the wires back together and use heat shrink to insulate each splice (usually 2 per wire) and make sure the splices are staggered so there isn't a big lump in one place. Don't leave any sharp protrusions in your splices as they will eventually wear a hole through the heat shrink and wiring problems inside the bars means a real bear to troubleshoot and repair. Also make sure there are no sharp edges on the holes in the bars that could possibly cut the wiring or wear out the insulation due to vibrations. Good Luck with the project, the end result and the knowledge you gain will get plenty of requests from friends to hook them up.

[hotroadking]

Right, and you don't have a split tank, that stopped in 99 with the last evo built softails, all 00 and up have the 5 gal fat bob tank.

You don't have to remove the tank, check my previous post, simply remove the seat, and then remove the rear tank bolt, then put a rag over the front rocker and remove the front tank bolt.

Take off the dash using a 1/2 inch wrench and disconnect the harness from the dash, all plug and play.

Then pull the tank backwards, it will move back 4 inches or more, you can then see the connectors, or they will just be back past the front end of the tank, they are snapped to the frame so all you have to do is depress the tab and pull the connector from the bars out of the base, the base will stay put.

Do all the other work then connect it back up. Watch the pin numbers and colors to get everthing in the correct place.