Caveats

These instructions assume that you have some familiarity with bike re-wiring. basic wrenching and soldering skills.

I did this rewiring job on my 2003 Ultra Classic. Older or newer models may not have the same wiring layout, but these instructions should at least point you in the right direction. Instructions for older baggers are included at the end of this page and an alternate approach from T.L.

Having official HD Service and Wiring Diagrams for your bike is helpful.

The author takes no responsiblity for any modifications you make to your bike based on these instructions. If your bike shorts and burns up, if your lights stop working and your crash, or something else bad happens, IT'S YOUR OWN FAULT! So don't blame me if you screw it up!

This modification may not be legal in some locations/states/provinces. It might be prudent to check your local regulations before proceeding.

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Introduction

This page presents instructions on how to rewire your Ultra Classic so that when you turn on your High Beams, your Passing Lamps stay lit. This provides more light, and especially more light to the sides and closer to the front of your bike.

Read the Caveats and proceed at your own risk only!

I hope you find these instructions useful! Let there be (more) Light!

Tools/Materials Required:

TORX driver
Wire cutters
Crimp connector tool or Soldering iron
Voltmeter (recommended)
Butt connector/terminator (1)
Male & Female connector ends (1 each)
Zip ties (half a dozen or so)
Black electrical tape

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Step 1 - Remove Front Fairing

Make sure your main key switch is off and the bike is powered off. If you are anal you can disconnect the battery, but I never bother and have yet to fry a circuit. (fingers crossed!)

Remove the front fairing from your scoot. The HD Service Manual for your model/year of bike provides instructions on how to do this. On a '03 Ultra, you take out the 3 chrome screws from the front of the fairing (road side) holding the windshield in place. Be careful you don't drop the windshield! You then take out two black screws from the back of the fairing (rider side) near the clear wind deflectors. Then you take out a final two black screws under the fairing near the forks from the back of the fairing. 7 screws total, all are TORX headed, so you'll need the right sized TORX bit to get 'em out. Carefully lift off the front fairing, disconnect the headlight connector in the centre, and put it in a solid place so that it doesn't fall and get scratched (unless you want a new paint job as well as more light, in which case fling it anywhere you please).

Front-end view with fairing removed.

The above diagram is what you should see. Orient your self so that you can find the headlight connector, the wire bundle that comes out of the headlight connector (5 wires if memory serves) and the thick horizontal wiring harness that runs across the top of the radio.

There will be an orange wire as part of the headlight wire bundle, with an unused femail connector that is probably capped with a red plastic safety cap, down near the headlight connector. This orange wire carries switched power (ie. 12V and is on when the main power/key switch is on). You will need to splice this orange cable into the correct yellow cable in the horizontal wiring harness.

Note: If I had of been smart I would have taken before and after pics, but didn't think of that till after I did my mods. So all pics on this page are "after" shots only! This is why you don't see the orange wire near the headlight connector and in the headlight wiring bundle in the above photo.

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Step 2 - Re-route Orange wire up along right side

Cut the zip ties that bundle the 5 wires coming from the headlight connector, including the orange wire. Then route the orange wire up along the right side of the radio (when looking at the front of the bike), along the vertical wire bundle that is there.

You will find a corrugated plastic protective hose along wrapping the vertical wire bundle. I cut the zip ties that hold this protective hose closed, and ran my orange wire up inside the hose, then taped/zip tied the hose back together, as shown in the above diagram. Then run the orange wire to the left over top of the radio and along the horizontal wire harness.

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Step 3 - Find correct yellow wire in horizontal wire harness

NOTE: There are multiple yellow wires in the horizontal wire harness that runs across the top of the radio! Only one is solid yellow. But if your eyes are as bad as mine, the striped yellow wires will look solid to you. It is VITAL that you find the correct wire to splice into!

You will need to cut some of the zip ties off that hold the horizontal wire bundle tight together. However, you probably don't want to cut the ones that have tabs that anchor into the mounting brackets inside the fairing. If you just cut the ones that are loose (ie. not attached to metal) that should give you enough wiggle room to locate the correct yellow wire.

The centre zip tie and the one just to the left of it are both anchored to the gauge frame. Probably not a good idea to cut these. Cut the ones to the left and right of these anchored ones.

You'll need to dig around to find the solid yellow wire in the bundle. Mine was buried pretty deep in all the other wires. Again, be careful that it's the solid yellow wire and not a stripped one. In the above pic, a bit to the right, you can see two yellow wires...the front one has a white stripe but it's hard to see.

Once you are certain you have found the correct solid yellow wire, I recommend that you just strip off a bit of insulation (a small slit int he insulation is sufficient). Then power up your bike and use a voltmeter between ground (the radio chassis will work fine) and the bared strands of the yellow wire. If you have your low beams on, then you should read 12V. When you turn on your high beams, this should drop to zero volts. Nice verification that you have the right wire, before you go cutting it!

Power off the bike with the main key switch before taking the next step.

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Step 3 - Splice the Orange and Yellow wires.

If you are sure you have located the correct yellow wire, go ahead and cut it near the centre of the radio. Take the right hand portion (leads to the right and eventually to the handlebar hi/lo beam switch, though that is hard to see), and cap it off. I used a cirimped termination cap, but you could probably just wrap the end in electrical tape if you don't have a terminator cap.

Now install a male spade connector on the left hand side of the yellow wire (which leads to the left and the Passing Lamps, though again, this is hard to see). Connect the yellow wire make spade crimp connector to the orange wire female connector. If you don't have/want connectors, you can splice the wire and solder the two together. I prefer the connectors, since you can take 'em apart easily if you ever need/want to. YMMV. If not using connectors, I recommend that you solder the connection, rather than just wrap the wires together, since that will give you a better, stronger connection that is less likely to separate from vibration when you least want it to on a dark, mountain road after midnight.

Power up the bike...if you did everything right, then your passing lamps should stay on when you switch your headlight to high beam. If it doesn't work, then you didn't splice the right wires, your bike is wired different than mine, or something else went wrong.

If you see/hear sparks and snap/crackle/pop, then you need to go back to the beginning of tihs page and read the Caveats again! ;-)

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Step 4 - Finish it up.

If all worked according to plan, wrap the connectors (or soldered splice) in electrical tape so that there is less chance of a short or moisture getting into your connection. Re-zip tie the horizontal wire bundle back together as it was, and re-install your fairing. Don't forget to plug your headlight connector back into your headlight before buttoning up the fairing again.

Run a final test of all the lights before going on the road. Let there be (more) Light!

Enjoy........

.....Andrzej

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Alternate Approach

From T.L Mitchell on RMH:

Seems like a lot of work.........

1 - pop off the ignition switch per the manual.

2 - switch orange wire from accessory switch and yellow wire from passing
lamp switch. Done. 20 minutes, tops.

......or, if you don't want your accessory switch limited to low-beam use
only disconnect the yellow wire from passing lamp switch and run a jumper
off the orange access wire.

Different strokes, same result.

Coupla thinga you may wanna consider adding..... a 100w 55 halogen headlight
bulb and a pair of 50w H3s if you have the halogen passing lamp inserts.

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Instructions for older Baggers.

I can't personally vouch for these instructions, but I have it on good authority from Bluiz (Ron Matthews) that he followed the 2nd option described below on his older '99 Ultra Classic. We've ridden a lot together, and his passing lamps stay on and I haven't seen any electrical sparks, so I guess it works! ;-) I believe the original post came from the TC88 list by T.L. Mitchell.

Since the topic of the day is passing lamps, here's how Idid mine today. Seems easiest, at least for me. This applies
to all FLHs except possibly the FLHR series. Have to thankPatrick for this, tho it took me several months to figure
out what he was advising (till I got inside thefairing, and got the manuals out).
 
Facing the bike with the fairing off, on the right there isa large bundle of wires (see page 8-224 of the FLT 1999
service manual). Next to this you will see the "AustralianPassing Lamp Switch", a yellow wire with a quick-disconnect
to a yellow wire running to your headlite. (Next to this isan unused white wire with a quick-disconnect also. If you
switch the white and yellow you can run your passing lampswith *high beam* (only).
 
Next to the headlite plug, you will find an unusedorange/white wire, hanging free, with a female spade
connector on it. This is a *hot* wirewhen the ignition is on. Disconnect the Yellow Australian
Passing lamp switch mentioned above, and connect theorange/white wire to the *male*
(upper) end of the yellow switch, and voila, passing lampson with either hi or low beams. Page A-40 of the 1999 wiring
diagrams shows the schematics for this