Chrome hand controls

[heritagehank]

OK, I'm not a mechanic but i tend to be pretty handy and I like doing things myself. I want to change the hand controls, switches etc to chrome parts. Due to the fact that this affects both the brake and the clutch, I'm a little nervous. Can anyone tell me how complicated this is? Are there special tools required?

Thanks in advance for the advice

[shovelmike]

You shouldn't have any trouble with that job. Get yourself a factory manual, follow directions, take your time, and you'll be fine.
When I got tired polishing the plain aluminum controls (switch housings, clutch perch,& master cylinder) I did the swap. Make sure what type of fluid the master cylinder requires, bleed out the system and change over. My old bike has the banana calipers that used DOT3..my new master cylinder took DOT5..it changed over with no problem. Just make sure you get the air out.
The housings contained new switches with generous lengths of wire attached. Take a good look at the wiring diagram and match them up.
Oh yeah....no "special" tools, just allen or torx bits whichever applies to your ride, wire cutter, soldering gun, heat shrink tubing (great stuff) and a hot air gun to shrink it with (if you don't have one yet now's your chance, great for stripping old paint and varnish during those honey-do's)

[milindh]

As far as the switch housings go, they are a straight swap if you don't change the switches themselves. Just make sure you look at how the wiring gets held down as you are pulling the old switches out and put them back exactly as the old black housings had them. It's a tight fit and you don't want to be soldering and shrink wrapping new switch wires and then trying to fit them in the housings. If you want new chrome switches buy the complete pre wired groups (wiring harnesses) along with the chrome housings and make your soldering joints under the tank and not in the housings themselves. The factory manual shows a way to do the new switch splices in the new housings but, man, it's a bear getting all that stuff in there. Ask me how I know.

By the way if you buy OEM Harley stuff get ready to bend over and grab your ankles. Today I was at a dealer looking for a front stop light swtich. They had 'em all right. $65 a pop and made in Mexico. Same switch from J&P is $7.99. Jireh is $15.95. Probably Chinese but still.....Six months ago those same Harley switches were $24.95. I guess Harley figgers if they can't sell their new bikes off the showroom floor they will make it up in parts cost. I'm still fuming about this. Aw-w-w-w never mind me.

Good Luck Dude

[evoKENevo]

Do ONE side at a time. Shovel & Milindh ain't kidding...everything is a tight fit in there. It all has to go right back exactly where it was...and it's hard enough to remember exactly how one side came apart.

I went with just (?) installing the individual chrome switch-button covers (not the whole switch assemblies) along with the little chrome screws to hold the stock black housings etc together...just to add a few chrome "accents' up there. Yeah,and that alone was a really tedious pain in the posterior...even w/o wiring or plumbing issues...still having to get all those wires exactly where they were,in order to close it all up again w/o pinching them.

With that in mind you might want to (as milindh said) leave the stock black switch assemblies in place...rather than having everything chrome...or,just replace the stock black switch-button covers (not the whole switch assemblies) with chrome ones in the new chrome housings... much cheaper and no wiring modifications...just the brake bleeding etc. that's relatively simple.

One thing for absolutely sure...get the FACTORY shop manual for your model/year before you start any project you're not familiar with... and READ the sucker that'll come in handy as long as you own the bike. You'll be glad you listened to all of us on that one.

[shovelmike]

By the way if you buy OEM Harley stuff get ready to bend over and grab your ankles.
That's for sure, I bought mine from the aftermarket. (Had to of course, you walk in a dealership asking for parts for an old Shovel they look at you like you just stepped out of a flying saucer).