[wvak47]

Is there two contacts inside the socket of the new one? Normal 12vDC is Red + and Black - (ground), kinda strange to have black not used as ground on DC voltage. On my 05 you have a brown ground and a violet hot lead only. Not real sure what to think. Give us more pics man maybe we can square it away, or maybe someone else knows more. I am VERY new but getting a little more dry behind the ears LOL.

You know Cowboy they had two kits there. The only obvious difference besides the $10 lesser price was how the wires exited the box, and the physical size of the box. I may have gotten an older version that doesn't do running lights. Oh well, I have soldering iron, extra wire (work for an electrical distributor), and nothing but time and determination on my hands LOL. I will make this work the way I want before I quit, guarantee that.

[chucktx]

Originally Posted by SPORSTERBOY

Since We Are Talking About Tail Lites, Maybe You Could Give Me A Pointer On Mine. My New Tail Lite Has Only A Black And Red Wire, I Wanted To Just Cut Off The Conecter From The Stock One To Make Life Easy, Same 1157 Sockets But The Oem Has 3 Wires, The Extra Wire Is A Ground From The Harness Conecter To The Back Of The Socket, Plus The Two That Are The Pos And Neg To The Bulb, Looks Like 2 Grounds To Me, Will It Still Work With Out It?

i believe what you have is a run/brake light. the ground wire, black will be run, and red will be brake....use an ohm meter to test this. or ground the light then use a wire with a 5 amp fuse in it and attach to a "hot" and then touch to the others. let us know.............

[wvak47]

socket problem fixed. Sorry no pics but I will give best description of fix as I can.

A quick trip to the auto part store and $6 worth of double contact sockets yielded all the materials needed. removed the strutcovers and lights from the bike, clipped the wires about 1/2" from the housing to free it from the strut cover and harness. With that off there is a small hole where the wires exit the housing, if you place a punch or screwdriver up through that hole you can pry the socket from the housing. The socket is a large plastic single piece that is held in the housing with a rubber gasket. With the socket out I removed the wiring from the socket. Simple to do it simply falls out the front. There is a spring behind the plunger that has to come out. I removed the ground wire from the socket and laid it to the side for later use. With all the guts removed I drilled a hole through the socket (roughly a 5/8" bit). in this new hole (all the way through the socket I inserted the new 1157 socket and replaced the ground wire in it's original slot. Worked great with a little help from some needlenose pliers.

Once I traced the wires on the new socket for brake and running lights I cut the brake light lead the same length as the ground. Solder, heatshrink, and bam right into business. (Mental note be sure to put the dang wires through the housing before you solder it up......don't ask ). To put the socket back in the housing, remover the rubber gasket and place it on the socket first then press it all in the housing at once. Makes it much easier than trying to put the socket in the gasket while it is in the housing (it won't go I tried for a while)

With this done I fed all the wiring back through the struts and fender and reattached the lights/covers. Went to my handy dandy service manual (factory of course) and got the color for the running light wire. Broke into the harness, unsoldered my original link for the new running light and added two leads to the mess (that was fun). With that done, I ran those leads back to the new 1157 leads and soldered them up (remember the heat shrink I was in a hurry sue me LOL). After all this I discovered the 1157 lamp now touchs my plastic covers so I am now off to find shorter double contact lamps. Working for an electrical supply store and being the guy who ordered lamps for 3.5 years I think I have that whipped.

Ok test time. WTF is the key. Jebus it is 8 miles down the road at the house. Test time will be this evening LOL. Said I was in a hurry LOL.

[SPORSTERBOY]

Well Did It Work? I Cut Up The Rubber Mount On The Oem To Fit The New Lite. Snug Like A Glove. Is There A Way To Get The Wires Out Of The Conecter Without Cutting Them. So You Can Push Them Through The Hole And Just Put Them Back Into The Conecter.

[chucktx]

a paper clip will work................

[wvak47]

Yeah you can take the locking plastic end off the wires and pull all of them back out no problem. My deal was I wasn't going to use those sockets again anyway and I needed the leads and end for the new sockets so they were getting cut anyway, so why mess with taking the ends off.

To answer the did it work? OH HELL YEAH they worked. Autozone has this buyers card thing and every purchase over $20 put points on the card. Went to get my 1157LED which were $16.99 there and found I had $20 credit on the store card. So basically my LEDs were free LOL. The LED is overall shorter so they didn't touch the lense at all, nor do they raise the heat level like the standard 1157 will. Although it were a mild disappointment on the start, I am happy with the finish. Only thing now is you can tell they are LED from behind and I don't care for that look. Maybe once I get another and put in the taillight to make all three match I will be more pleased.

Atleast the problem there is solved I have running lights on the back that can be seen. Now if people will only pay attention LOL.

[SPORSTERBOY]

GLAD TO HEAR IT WORKED FOR YOU. KNOW WHAT YA MEAN ABOUT END RESULTS, SPEND ALL YOUR TIME AND MONEY DOING SOMETHING AND WHEN YOU FINISH YOU SAY TO YOURSELF, YA KNOW I DON'T REALLY LIKE THAT, DIDN'T TURN OUT THE WAY I SAW IT IN MY HEAD THEN YA SAY F-IT, IT WILL WORK FOR NOW, GIVES ME ANOTHER PROJECT FOR ANOTHER DAY

[wvak47]

Everything from the Neck back is finished. Exhaust, Carb, and Tank all got final bolt down last night. One caliper to paint, locktight everything on the forks, replace the front wheel, dump gas in and fire it up is all that is left.

Camera has gone missing for a bit but I should have pics up soon. The more it goes back together the better I like the mods and colors. Weren't where I was headed by any means but turned out way better than I thought it might.

[cowboy]

Good the here your getting close to riding her again

[wvak47]

Saturday March 22, 2008 brakes were bled, gas added, fired up, idle adjusted and it was back on the road again. Sorry there are a few pics missing in the middle here (camera still AWOL ). However my cous was nice enough to snap shots with her camera for me to get finals posted for ya. I have more coming but here are three of my favorites right now. Named Closer as she waited on me to get the DOT5, finally as she was rolled out of the garage together for the first time, and Firstrun as my bud and I took her for her first run since the redo. Road all Saturday afternoon, then road out to my mom's for Easter yesterday at 07:00. As I passed my uncle's house he yelled to his wife and told her, "Look at this idiot, there is frost on the ground" Just to clue him in there was frost on more than that after an hour on that bugger . On the way home yesterday evening I hit rain and snow. GOD IT IS GREAT TO BE ON TWO AGAIN.

[chucktx]

looks good!!!! great job!, have fun and stay safe. thanks for sharing your project with us, it was fun looking over your shoulder!!!!!!!!!

[SPORSTERBOY]

Looks Great! Like That Old School Twist You Put On It.

[wvak47]

Thanx guys. Yall been there for it so you know what I been through LOL. I am more than pleazd with the outcome. Glad I didn't buy that blackcherry now, the gray works for me.

[cowboy]

Look's real good out in the sun & like the others said thank's for letting us look at all your hard work , I like to see people work

[wvak47]

Thanx Cowboy. It was a pleasure to share with you guys and gals. I appreciate all the help and encouragement you fine folks have sent my way.

A few more pics.

[voodoochild]

Geez wvak, I seem to remember somebody coming to this site a while back, not knowing anything about H-D's. They bought this bike and could barely get it running. Next thing you know the guy rips the ENTIRE bike apart, rebuilds it and now is riding it, and DAMN if it don't look nice!! Congrats on a nice job and glad you're on your way down the road!

[chucktx]

he did do a great job didnt he!!!!!!!!!!!!

[voodoochild]

Absolutely!!

[wvak47]

Originally Posted by voodoochild

Geez wvak, I seem to remember somebody coming to this site a while back, not knowing anything about H-D's. They bought this bike and could barely get it running. Next thing you know the guy rips the ENTIRE bike apart, rebuilds it and now is riding it, and DAMN if it don't look nice!! Congrats on a nice job and glad you're on your way down the road!

he did do a great job didnt he!!!!!!!!!!!!

AWH SHUCKS guys. Thanx, it does mean a lot to a newb when guys that have been there done that pats you on the back for a job well done. I got a feeling this is the start of a terrible sickness for me LOL. I love these things.

[wvak47]

I finally broke the 5K mark on the new look. I put the Sporty back on the road Saturday before Easter, and given the rain we have had here it has taken WAY longer than I wanted (stupid rain). I took three showers Saturday, one by choice and two by God. I think the God given ones were a bit longer and probably soaked me a bit deeper than did the one by choice . I know I looked quite the fool riding in the rain, literally laughing out loud, but I just found that second shower from God to be hillarious (or insanity was kicking in, either way I still enjoyed the ride).

So last night I finished my project. I told the wifey I wanted to redo this bike, put it in a show and win with my work. Well I did that last night. I won the RAT Bike competition at a local bar's Bike Night . Ok Ok not exactly what I had in mind when I told her that but I got a beer bucket for a trophy and free beer . Same prize the dude with the garage ornament got for his purple custom, so I am happy with that. OH yeah failed to mention I was the only one who would admit he had an ugly scoot, so it wasn't much of a competition for me . Still get the free beer Life is good when you're a RAT Bike Ridin' Kinda Guy.