Last year I got hit by some wires chaffing inside the fairing, took out my gauges and all my lights. I took the fairing apart and found the problem, fixed it how it should have been done at the factory, and everything's fine.

Yesterday while out for a ride, my buddy disappears behind me. I turn around to find him on the side of the road and the bike is dead. We do what we can do on the side of the road, but can't keep the "ign" fuse in it. So we park it at a guys house, run back to town to get the truck and trailer, go back and pick it up, drop it off at my house. Last night I took the fairing off, and sure enough it's the same exact spot as what happened to mine last year. 3 wires had chaffed thru and were grounding out against the left side(looking at the front of the bike) vertical fairing bracket. Fixed it up, put in a new fuse, and the bike runs like new again. Of course at the same time we did find 3 broken fairing brackets in there, both horizontal ones and one vertical one.

It's the large wire bundle that runs right over the top of the radio, when it gets to the left side (when facing the front of the bike) vertical fairing bracket, there is a small bundle that branches out and goes to a plug that is for the right handlebar switches. That wire bundle doesn't have any protective sleeving on it and it is pressed right up against the fairing bracket. And easy fix is to just put a small piece of plastic wire loom on it and zip tie it in place.......but of course the Moco couldn't afford the extra 5 cents it costs for that small piece.

So check out your bikes for this problem next time you have the fairing off.........it's a simple fix that will save you a ton of problems on the road cause it will leave you stranded.

Steve

 

Great post Steve, this is what makes this forum a must for everyone that owns a Harley.

 

 

Good info maineultraclassic

btw, I still have a set of gorgeous PM wheels that would compliment that ultra nicely

 

I know you do, and I really do want them.
But...........with the lack of a job for the past 6 months, I'm really not in a good position to buy them from you. If I do get a job, I will be in touch with you about them.

Steve

 

Issues like these aggravate the s**t out of me! I had the same type of issue with a wire bundle that came out and was secured with a Christmas tree clip to the bottom of the radio. I don't know if it was misrouted at the factory, or by the PO. I had to pull the terminals out of the connectors, re-insulate the wires with shrink tubing (two layers)reinstall the terminals and correctly route the harness. It had been run under a bracket with a 90 degree bend instead of on top, so it chafed thru.

I wish I had taken photos of it, so I could communicate the issue more clearly.

Glad you got yours resolved!

 

I should have taken pictures of mine last year, and of his last night...........but I didn't.

It's such an obvious thing, that once you get the fairing off and look around you'll spot it immediately.

Steve

 

Good poop, thanks!

 

I had that same set of wires short out and blow the ign fuse but it was inside the housing about 1" from the run switch.

 

Steve,

I ran into this same issue just a few months back and discovered the same problem on my 2005 EGC in the same place you just described. Good post because I can confirm this is not an isolated incident.