Odometer/Speed Sensor Unit replacement - 1999 FLHR

Stinkin' manual is worthless for this (so, please don't tell me to read it AGAIN!). So, do I really have to pull the friggin starter to even get to the Speed Sensor Unit cable/assembly? My starter's bolts are ridiculously difficult to access......

Probably, but it feels better to rant about it. Think I'll have a cigar and decide if I wanna pay someone to do it for me.

Sensor? What...oh, that thing, yeah, that is it.....

Yep, that is the place it goes. Unfortunately, it is buried on my ride. I'm trying to figure an easier way in, as the starter is a &$%# to get in and out.

If I knew such a simple job as replacing the speed sensor was gonna be like this, I might have opted for a Heritage. This is a PITA job for no good reason.

Haven't started yet, but that is my plan of attack, HRK, to move it just enough to get that done. Problem is, with all my spine issues, when I get in there to do the work my hands go numb and I lose about half of my grip strength - fingers just don't work then. Sucks to be broken, but it is what it is. What I don't want to do is get it loose and not be able to get it back together. Right now I can ride without the speedo/odo working, but won't be able to if I can't get it back together. So I am waiting till I have some other hands to help me.

Getting at starter bolts on a softail is a major pain compared to a bagger, I used a ball end allen to get the speed sensor bolt out,then a small blade screwdriver to pry the sensor up to break it free. Then since the sensor was toast I cut the sensor wire and just pulled the wire through. I didn't run the new sensor wire under the starter like Moco did. I just made a little loop with the wire at the sensor end and tucked it under the end of the starter by carefully using the blade screwdriver again then routed the plug up and through to the plug in and used a couple of zip ties to secure the wire

Done. Did it pretty much the way Lucifer describes it, including the cut of the wire. The thing that was original stumping me was the route of the wire, made it look & feel like it was pinned under the starter...and it was, but not to the degree that I thought - it did not require messing with the starter at all.

Another thing that the HD manual says nothing about is where the unit hooks up to the harness. IT IS IN THE BATTERY BOX AREA!! How hard was that, H-D?

Another gripe - the sensor wire actually is offset 90 degrees toward the starter for no good reason, rather than any other direction (I mean, they only had the other 270 degrees to play with to get it right).

So once I realized all I really had to do was yank the crap out of it and cut it off, it became a lot easier.

Oh, and when one compares a used one to a new one, no one can't notice the used ones are greatly magnetized over new. So it ain't about cleaning, you'd have to degauss the thing to get it back to good.

Finally, like Lucifer and others mention, I wouldn't cut the cable tie holding the old one to the frame (and I didn't). Much easier to cut the unit off, pull the cable through and then reroute or use a separate cable tie for the new one.

Glad you got it fixed.