anyone upgrade their speedo bulbs to LED for better visibility? i'm going to do the indicator lights (high beam, low beam, turn signals, oil and neutral) but want to do the speedo also.

 

You don't say exactly what bike you're dealing with, but, going by your user name and signature photo, I'm assuming you have a 1995 FLSTN. That was the last year of the "old style" dash with individual indicator lamps and mechanical speedometer.

That being the case, I did that modification to my FLSTN some years back. I used these for the indicator lamps:

BA9s LED Bulb - 1 LED - BA9s Bulb | Super Bright LEDs

I used these for the speedometer lamps:

BA9s LED Bulb - 4 LED - BA9s Bulb | Super Bright LEDs

As you can see, they come in your choice of color, so you can customize your instrument lighting.


You will likely find that the high beam indicator is way too bright at night. I ended up putting a few layers of neutral density filter under the lens in the dashboard until I knocked the brightness back to a suitable level.

Hope this helps.

 

oh yeah sorry, you're correct. i have a 1995 flstn. nice touch on the speedo light uncle g! how many bulbs were inside and was it easy to get to? (haven't taken the speedo off yet) i just placed my order for the other lights. going with the color coded ones too as you have shown. any chance you have pics of everything all buttoned up?

 

The stock speedo has two lamps, one at six o'clock and one at 12 o'clock. To get at the speedometer lamps, you will need to remove the dash cover and remove the two e-rings that hold the speedometer to the dash panel. Then the sockets can be accessed from underneath. The sockets are just snapped in place and can be removed by rocking them back and forth until they come loose. The aftermarket speedometer I show has only a single bulb.

Sorry, no pics of the finished installation, but they're very BRIGHT. That bike was destroyed by a careless driver in 2019.

 

I did the same thing as Uncle G on my 94 FXSTC. Bought the bulbs from the same place too. And he’s right about the high beam indicator light it’s annoyingly bright.
I also have a tach on the bars
so I did red in the tach
white and blue in the speedo 12 & 6 respectively.

 

jeez, I forgot about that. I'm guessing you never made it to sixteen million miles on the rebuilt motor?!
slight exaggeration only, folks!

 

I know, and I’m sorry to keep bringing up that bike, but owning one Harley-Davidson for over 25 years then losing it to an accident is harder to get over than you might think.

 

I've done this a few times and I'd recommend you choose your bulbs carefully. Some illuminate to the only the sides and not the end, others do on the side and end. You can also get them with different levels of lumens (brightness) I found the end lit to be too bright for the dash lamps indicators and too dim for back lighting the speedo\tach. I was able to paint over the end to dim the output to a level I didn't need shades at night.

They are inexpensive, I'd suggest you but a couple different styles\lumen levels in the colors you need and try them in the dark. Choose the one that works best for you before you have to assemble\disassemble if you decide to change from the first choice.

 

got the led’s in. managed to get the speedo bulbs in too. not gonna lie they’re damn bright but neutral is a lot easier to see during the day.

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Now there’ll be no ignoring the oil pressure light!