1. Yes, that's normal. The disc brakes on your car make the same noise, you just can't hear it.

2. The tach can get a little tricky. First off there's the wiring. That can be a challange. But it's not rocket science. But if you can read a schematic and have the tools, go for it. The last one I installed was on a '97, and it was a breeze. Second, the mounting of the tach itself. H-D does not offer anything that easily bolts up. You can cobble together a few parts and make it work, though. The problem is that the gauge bracket and the bar clamp are all one piece now. In the past, the gauge bracket bolted to the top of the bar clamp.

Do you need a tach? I think it would be nice, but not necessary. Find the sweet spot and stay there, regardless of what the actual rpm is. One day I may install one.

 

I bought the kit from H-D which had everything in it to add the tach. J&P sells a nice adapter so you can mount the set up to your risers without it looking like crap the way mine did when I first bought it. I'm finding nothing is too difficult to do on these bikes as long as you have patience and resources, like a service manual and H-D Forums!

The J&P adapter:

http://www.jpcycles.com/productgroup...0-B27DECFE0B90

 

The tach is not all that difficult to install. The instructions that came with mine (for a 2003 FXD) were very poorly written and had incorrect information about the electrical hookup, but I worked out those problems by looking at the wiring diagrams in the electrical manual for a model that came stock with a tach. I don't know how similar the 06 models are to the 03's, but I will be glad to share my wiring solution with you if have problems and if the 06's are wired similar to the 03's.

 

The "Share a Project" link is actually from forum member kpreese. He found the tach mounting cup and shared the information with me. From that point we both worked together and came up with a good installaton procedure which differs somewhat from the linked information and makes the job "professionally" done. Installing a tach on the '06 Dyna's differs from earlier years. You pick the tach signal up at a different location. I'm glad to help anyone who needs assistance.

 

Yeah, that project thing was mine. That project will not suit all of the Dynas exactly as done and I actually rewired it later. I initially took the time to do the project documentation because that tach signal pin is undocumented. Even the manual shows that ECM pin #3 as unlabeled. I had to do a lot of searching before figuring that out and it seemed like no one else should have to go through that.

The second reason I did it was to share the Alloy Art mount. I dug around forever it seems looking for something that looked good. I installed mine on a Street Bob, powercobra98 on a Super Glide Custom and they BOTH look great despite completely different bars and speedo setups. After I did mine, powercobra98 did his wiring the right way and so I repented and rewired it.

I did NOT go back and take pictures of the rewire. I was doing the fat bar installation so I pulled the tank to run the hand control wires in the bars. While I was at it I ran the tach wires under the tank. My wires now run under the tank and the power and ground are pulled from the main wiring harness. So that's just a disclaimer. The project shouldn't be followed precisely, but it is still helpful for seeing what you are getting yourself into, what obstacles you'll be running into, etc.

The mount is nicely tucked away when standing and looking at the bike, but it is plenty visible and usable when mounted. And I won't argue with someone's preferences, some people have no desire for a tach. If you are asking about one though, you aren't one of those people. If you add a tach, you WILL use it.

Kevin

 

HD sells a 2" tach and when combined with the 2" speedo, guage bracket,billet base, and wiring harness, which provides a quick connection for the tach (rather than deel with 3 wires or so). to Seedometer harness.
Have this setup on order for myself.
Cheers










2006 FXDCI

 

Some good info here. My last bike was a Ducati Monster and I loved having the Tach, I really miss it on my Super Glide. Here's another question. If you get a new speedo, does the mileage start over, or does the computer store it and display on the new one?? Anyone want to say how much the speedo/tach combo costs??

 

The Speedo/tach combo's are not too bad at $359 from chicago HD or other online dealers.

74556-04 Nostaglic face
74549-04 Standard face

 

2" speedo requires miles to be set at factory, to answer how much, 2" tach as well.......$1000.00 can. parts only.