Ok folks new to these forums and tried searching but didn't find what I needed. I have an older 1985 flhtc that was my father in laws and he passed away. I'm trying to restore this some. I bought a new led taillight and base for this. The problem is that I had a two wire tail light on here and this tail light is 3 wires (ground, running, and brake) I've thought of using the two existing wires for the ground and running and splice into the rear brake switch line but it wouldn't help for the front brakes. Any thoughts or input is extremely appreciated.

 

I'm dealing with a similar issue I'm adding brake lights and I haven't found any solutions aside from running a wire from both front and rear brakes but then you run the risk of shorting something out. Now I had an idea to run a 2 relay system and just send a negative - signal to the brake ligts and have a + positive wire going to them at all times but my bike doesn't have that much room to hide 2 relays but if you have the space you can try that

 

OP: Why don`t you simply connect the black wire to ground?

Kdjmo: Your idea is unnecessarily complicated...look at a wiring diagram for your bike, and...tell us the model and year...

 

85 is a frame for ground type, the existing 2 wires you have are run and brake. You need to run a ground wire back to under the seat.

 

All are frame ground, the newer bikes just use a ground wire to the frame, instead of using the contact of the component to frame, fenders etc.

All you need to do is connect the ground wire to any part of the bike that is ground (under the nut on the tail light mount, or under the fender mount nut, for example), the fenders and frame are ground. No need to run a wire all the way back to the center of the bike.

That is how it is done on the new bikes, a ground wire from the component to the frame.

 

[QUOTE=Dan89FLSTC;16038009]All are frame ground, the newer bikes just use a ground wire to the frame, instead of using the contact of the component to frame, fenders etc.

All you need to do is connect the ground wire to any part of the bike that is ground (under the nut on the tail light mount, or under the fender mount nut, for example), the fenders and frame are ground. No need to run a wire all the way back to the center of the bike.

That is how it is done on the new bikes, a ground wire from the component to the frame.[/QUOTE]

No ****,
And the contact point is under the seat.
If he's going to run the ground wires anyway, why not go to a spot where you can work comfortably and not have to worry about corrosion under the fender? That's why Harley went to a wired ground instead of relying on component to frame direct ground.

 

I gave the guy my thought on the issue, no reason for you to get bent out of shape.

 

Sounded like you were insinuating I was unaware that the frame was used as ground on all bikes.
The last thing he'd want to do is to try and ground it under the fender, First it's a PITA second would be the corrosion issue and potential of losing the tail light and brake light while riding.
Cagers have a hard enough time "seeing" us as it is.

 

No problem RANGER73.

Cheers.

Ha, another one and done...