These are notes related to the installation of Harley-Davidson heated grips on a 2017 Road King. I installed part number 56100034, Black Rubber Heated Hand Grips, and I would assume that these notes apply to any of the other heated grips H-D offers for these bikes.

The H-D website indicates that part number 69201599, Electrical Connection Update Kit - Touring, is required for installation of these grips on 2017 and up Touring bikes. I found that this is an unnecessary complication and adds no value to the installation. Also, it requires removal of the tank and wire splicing. My installation is much neater and only requires the cutting of one (ground) wire and the crimping of three terminals. I believe that this kit may be of value if you wish to add other accessories, like a heated seat. Since my only interest was in the heated grips, I did not see value in the kit.

The installation of the grips on the handlebar is straightforward; the grip kit instructions are adequate. You need to remove the headlamp and the fork lock cover from the nacelle so that you can access the slotted hole in the center of the handlebar. I used a piece of fairly stiff insulated wire (believe it was solid 16 gauge, but not critical) to fish the wires from the left-side grip down through this slotted hole. Route them down into the middle of the nacelle. The throttle-side heated grip replaces the original, and the wiring for that side already exists within the handlebar, down into the nacelle. You simply plug the connector from the heated grip into the end of the electronic throttle.

Inside the nacelle, you will see that one of the two cables from the left-hand grip contains a black and a red wire. These are the power wires from the bike's electrical system. The other cable should be connected to an existing connector in the nacelle that comes from the throttle-side grip (from the electronic throttle). This part is simply plug-and-play. My recollection (already dim from yesterday) is that the wires on each side are black or black/white.

The heated handgrip kit provides a power connection harness that plugs into the cable mentioned above (with the red and black wires). Cut off this harness a few inches beyond the connector that mates with the one from the left-hand grip. In other words, you will cut off and discard the end with the spade connectors.

Within the nacelle you will find a four-way white in-line connector with an unused plug. It should have a violet/blue wire in Slot 1 and a brown/yellow wire in Slot 4. This connector would be used for a chassis cooling fan, if one were installed. The violet-blue wire is switched power (only hot when ignition/accessory is ON), which is what you want for the heated grips. The only connection missing for your purposes here is a ground wire.

There is another unused connector in the nacelle, which would be used for tip lamps (that the 2017 Road King does not have). This connector has a blue and a black wire. Cut the black wire near the connector, and use a razor knife to (carefully) make a small slit further back in the sheath around that wire bundle so that this black wire can be pulled free of the sheath and more easily be installed in the four-way white connector mentioned above.

Now it's time to crimp some terminals on the wires. You will need (2) H-D part number 72038-71A, socket, terminal @$1.03 and (1) H-D part number 72039-71A, pin terminal @$0.51. I used a Sargent part number DP 1028CT crimp tool to do the crimping. It does an excellent job and was not terribly expensive (maybe $25 or so). Use the "D" cavity on the tool first (to crimp the inner wire to the terminal) and the "B" cavity to crimp the terminal around the insulation.

Crimp the two socket terminals to the black and the red wires in the short power harness from the heated handgrip kit. Crimp the pin terminal to the black wire you cut off of the tip lamp connector. On the four-way white connector, pull the unused plug away from the part that's attached to the bike's wiring. The unused plug will hold the socket terminals and thus provide the needed power to your grips. You want the red wire to mate with the violet/blue wire in Slot 1 of the other side of the connector, and the black wire to mate with the black wire on which you just installed the pin terminal. Push the socket terminals in and they lock into this plug. I installed the black wires in Slot 2 of each side of the connector. Note that nothing will mate with the brown/yellow wire in Slot 4.

My grips work just fine after this installation. The advantages of doing it this way include not purchasing the "update kit" for about $28 (though I bought it anyway, not knowing it was not needed; you can profit by my error), a much neater installation, the ability to easily disconnect parts if any need replacing in the future, and eliminating the need to remove the gas tank.

For reference purposes (if you have the factory service manual, which I do), the tip lamp connector in the nacelle is 29B and the four-way white connector is 205A (called ACC SW connector).

 

cookiemech,

Thanks SO much for writing this up!! I've got a '17 RK as well and was trying to figure out how to get the plain black grips wired. I went so far as to take my bike to the dealer and got a tech to come help me. Needless to say, I still couldn't figure it out. I had spliced the wires to the same blue/black connector you described, per the tech's instructions. STILL could not get it working. There I sat thinking, "I totally F&*(ed up my bike now."

I googled, youtubed, and forumed everything I could think of and still found nothing until your post. Everything else was for Road/Street Glides. I didn't know I needed to take the headlight out or the other things as HDs directions are totally jacked when talking about getting the wire down the bars.

I did, however, just butt connect the wires and heat tubed them as I don't PLAN on taking them out. But if I do, I'll just leave the extra power cable in there.

Got to use my grips for the first time this morning and they're great!!

Thanks again!!

 

Glad someone was able to use the information. My grips work extremely well; I think my hands would be uncomfortably hot above the #2 setting.

 

Yeah, my wife wanted to feel them so I turned them on 6. She waited about 2 minutes and gave up as they were barely warm lol. So I left the house and 5 minutes later my hands were burning!! Granted it was 60 degrees this morning but I went with no windshield and had on my summer, short, racing gloves.

Setting on 2 was perfect for this morning. Can't wait to really try it in the 36-40ish degree range!

 

Thanks for your write up. I just recently brought home the same grips as you (with the wiring harness on order) and figured it would be different than my 05 Road King. Especially when it looked like the wiring harness would be too short.

The instructions mention removing the holder on the left grip where the wires come out, is this correct?

I do plan on adding a frame cooling fan, so it look like I need the connector at the headlight for that, so I plan on using the wiring harness.

 

Not sure what "holder" is meant here. Are you referring to the instructions that come with the grips? I just scanned those instructions and don't see anything like that . . .

 

Am at work, so I am now looking at the instructions... seems like the OLD throttle grip has a seal cap which you remove.

 

Looking at the instructions again, the seal cap is just the piece that seals the female terminals (very small sockets) inside the electronic throttle until heated grips are installed. It's really no big deal at all.

 

thanks!

 

I put on the supplemental wiring harness, and it sure is overkill for this application.... However, it should be useful for other things I might add over time.

The right grip was obvious when I took the old one off... right there is the electrical connection for the new right grip.

Did not have enough time to pit in the left grip yet, but I will look for a connection in the nacelle to wire it up