Panhead Duo-Glide Auxiliary Rear Light Wiring | Final Installation, Part 3 | Riding Vintage

Panhead Duo-Glide Auxiliary Rear Light Wiring, Part 3

This final part of the auxiliary rear lighting project on my 1964 Harley-Davidson FLH Duo-Glide covers the wiring work needed to make the finished installation look period correct instead of obviously modern. Besides adding more light to the rear of the bike, I wanted the wiring and light sockets to look like something that could have been installed in 1964 rather than 2012.

If you have not already seen the layout and bracket fabrication steps, start with Part 1 and Part 2.

For more Panhead electrical and workshop articles, see the Panhead Tech section.

Rebuilding the Light Sockets with Cloth Covered Pigtails

The first thing to go was the modern-style wire coming out of each light socket. I had a couple pieces of cloth covered wire stashed in my parts drawer, and that served as the basis for the new pigtails.

In order to rebuild the sockets, I first disassembled them completely.

Auxiliary rear light socket disassembled before replacing the modern wire with a cloth-covered pigtail.

Breakout view of the auxiliary rear light socket parts before reassembly.

Installing New Terminal Contacts

Crimped on the end of each wire pigtail was a small brass terminal contact. This can be uncrimped and reused, but I recommend ordering a new terminal contact that can be soldered on to the end of the wire. I ordered mine from The Repair Connector Store.

To install the new terminal contact, I first filled the terminal contact with solder. This was accomplished by heating it with the tip of a soldering iron and then adding soldering wire until the cup was filled.

Brass terminal contact being filled with solder with the tip of a soldering iron.

Next I stripped the wire and used the soldering iron to tin the exposed wire.

Cloth-covered wire stripped and tinned before being soldered into the terminal contact.

To complete the job, I reheated the terminal contact and pushed the wire into it. Once the wire cooled, I reassembled the pigtail and added a little heat shrink to keep the cloth covering from fraying.

Heat shrink added to the pigtail to keep the cloth covering from fraying.

I repeated the process for the other pigtail and then reassembled both fixtures.

Reassembled auxiliary rear light fixture with the cloth-covered pigtail installed.

Routing the Wiring Under the Seat

With the fixtures properly rewired, I remounted them on the angle brackets under the seat. I then used black cloth friction tape to hold the wires in place as I routed them toward the gas tank, making sure to leave a loop for the removal of the seat pin.

Black cloth friction tape holding the auxiliary light wires in place under the solo seat.

I had a short length of asbestos loom in my parts drawer and used it to cover the wire as it went from the T-bar to in between the gas tanks.

Short length of asbestos loom protecting the wire between the T-bar and the gas tanks.

Running the Wire to the Dash Switch

I chose to run the wire to the dash switch instead of the terminal block under the seat because it allowed me to still flip the seat up without needing to detach the lights or to have a long loop of wire hanging under the seat. Running the wire between the tanks and into the back of the dash took a lot of careful fishing and probably would have been faster if I had just removed the dash completely.

The wire came through on the left side of the dash, marked by the yellow arrow below, and then attached to the #4 terminal on the switch, marked by the blue arrow below. Note that this is on a 1964 Duo-Glide.

Dash-switch connection on the 1964 Duo-Glide: wire entering at the yellow arrow and attached to the #4 terminal at the blue arrow.

Finished Installation

Once all the wiring was in place, I bolted the seat back on.

Finished auxiliary rear light installation with the seat bolted back onto the bike.

Here is how the new lights look in the dark.

Auxiliary rear lights illuminated in the dark after the wiring was completed.