Maintenance Issues

If ya own a vehicle ya gotta maintain that vehicle.  So My 22 year old Harley Davison 1st year Fatboy needed maintenance.  The speedometer lights weren’t working, the hi-lo beam headlight indicator was working backwards and the passing lamps weren’t working.  No speedo lights makes riding after dark interesting, the hi-low beam indicator was just annoying and the passing lamps must work for the Fatboy to pass its annual inspection.  Clearly it was time to go work on some electrics.

I had tried to sort things out when I was at the ALBA, but I couldn’t get the speedo trip meter reset knob screw off (its an itsy bitsy Phillips head screw inside the reset knob) which mean I couldn’t get the dash console off which means I couldn’t get the gas tanks off which means I couldn’t get to the electrics.  I did figure out how to fix the hi-lo indicator light but didn’t have the right tool in my travel tool kit to fix it.  Fixing motorcycles can be so much fun sometimes, relaxing even - and so frustrating the rest of the time. 

Harley Disassembled

So Monday was HD Day.  I have no idea why the reset screw was such a problem at the ALBA, it came right off like its supposed to in the driveway of my house.  The hi-low indicator was an easy fix also – I just reversed the non-ground wires at the switch and everything was fine.  It just took a small jewelers screwdriver to pop the wire fittings out.  The speedo lights were just as simple to fix – one bulb was burned out and the bulb sockets needed a light wire brushing from my Dremel to make the proper contact with the indicator bulb.  Poof – 2 problems down & 1 to go.

Harley Reassembled

Fixing the passing lamps was a great deal harder.  I had to take both gas tanks off to get to the electric connectors.  This meant draining the tanks, removing the carb gas line, the crossover gas line, the venting gas line and of course both gas tanks.  A bike sure looks forlorn without its gas tanks.  Two hours later I’d checked the relevant wires for conductivity and then detached and reattached the connectors several times. Voila!  The passing lamps now light with the headlight like they’re supposed to!  So I did a Little Happy Dance and put it all back together.  I even installed new gas lines all around, the current ones were looking a bit long in the tooth and they had already been removed to get the tanks off.

Oh How Nice – The Lights All Work

I even got it all done in time to go spend the late afternoon and evening in Fredericksburg with my friend Connie.  We had a wonderful time celebrating her birthday and catching up on our urchin’s doings.  Motorcycles aren’t the only things that take maintenance, so do friendships.  And it was grand good fun maintaining this one on Tuesday. 

P.S. Wednesday Morning I rode Quick Lane & got the Harley inspected.  WooHoo – I’m legal!