It's time to show my ignorance...I need to replace the dash base on my 76 FLH. I bought the Drag Specialties piece from my local indy. It'll work, but I'm not really happy with it. My biggest question is the wiring. Each light has two leads. It looks like this is a hot and a ground. From what I've seen 3 of the originals (turn signals and high beam) had one wire with no external ground. Neutral and oil had two. I guess the original grounded through the mounting plate. So for the single wires, I just need to find a ground and hook them up as before. I don't how to deal with the other 2 lights. Or am I just way overthinking this? Any help is appreciated.

 

your correct on the original bulb holders were internally grounded and only the one wire is a supply for the bulb

so what you do is ( take the 3 wires that go to the 3 bulb holders color is irrelevant ) and connect them to the plate for the ground then the other 3 remaining wires color is irrelevant - become the bulb supply left and right blinkers and hi beam

the remaining two connect like they were but referring to the 76 FLH wire diagram will show the location if you get lost some how and if you do ask again can help its actually no big deal

 

I used the same base on a 72 FX that's in the build process. I connected the 3 black (ground wires) to the dash plate ground stud and connected the 3 white wires from the bulb socket to the purple, tan and blue wires for the turn indicators and high beam indicator.

 

Thanks for the replies. Somehow wiring is more intimidating than anything else.

 

The Neutral and oil get a signal "FROM" ground so the color wire is always hot when the ignition is "ON" so don't ground those.
And like stated above you can ground the high beam and signals anywhere.
All the new lights now come with the ground wire, the engineers figured the vibrations and exposure to the element didn't
make for a lasting ground. And it does make a difference what wires you use for hots and grounds, especially if you use LED's.