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Remove wires from handlebar?!

3K views 22 replies 6 participants last post by  ancientdad 
#1 ·
Hey guys, how do I remove these two wires and circuitboard from the turn signal switch/mount?



The hole is tight, and I suspect I have to clip the wires and then reconnect them later with some electrical solder

Thanks,
Phil


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#2 ·
Phil, the wires are supposed to pull out of the bars where the switch is located - away from the left end (or the right end of the bars when working on the other side, of course). You don't have to disassemble the switch, you take the headlight out and disconnect the wires there and pull the out of the bars, the slip them into the new bars. If you have access to compressed air, take a piece of stout string and use a blowgun to blow air and the string into the center opening of the bars (where the wires come out) and with the ends of the bars taped off, the string will come out of the hole on the side you blow the air toward. Then wrap the string around the wiring on the switch, tape it up so the string won't come off and it makes the wires more streamlined to fit into the bars better, and then pull them through
 
#3 ·
Wow. Thanks Tom. I’m sitting here, laughing at myself, because I just disassembled and cleaned both switches. As a plus, I now know how these switches work.


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#4 ·
Wow. Thanks Tom. I’m sitting here, laughing at myself, because I just disassembled and cleaned both switches. As a plus, I now know how these switches work.
Good experience for the future... :D my grandmother used to say "I was just practicing" when she'd spend hours working on something in needlepoint and then rip it all out and start over. Sometimes, if you've never been there, the obvious isn't so much...
 
#5 ·
That’s hysterical and it makes my mistake a little less painful. Ha ha. Can you give me advice on reconnecting these wires afterward? Perhaps spray them with a little electrical cleaner or something like that?

Thanks again Tom!


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#7 ·
I have used a heat gun on low setting to soften up the ancient covering on the wires. It can be pretty stiff and hard to pull through the bars after 40 years.
 
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#8 ·
Thanks PemDoc. Yet another reason for me to spend the $15 to get a heat gun... I ended up pulling everything through but it was a long process. Even harder was getting the switches to clamp around the new bar properly...the slightly lower handle bars seemed to have affected how well the switches sit.

Maybe a heat gun could help me there somehow.

Anyway, Tom, the string idea worked brilliantly!! Here’s a pic of how I used the string to also deal with the loose wires at the end:



Phil


Edit: final product with new handlebar from 4into1 per Tom’s suggestion:



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#9 ·
They look good, Phil - they'll look even better on the bike! Yeah, I forgot to mention that the switches are often hard to properly position on the bars after being out of one set and back in another, the plastic sheathing is so still on older switches that they get "molded" into a shape and aren't very compliant to be re-positioned even though the new position is often very similar. Need to get the heat gun... plenty of stiff older plastic and rubber parts on these things. I learned that string trick when I was working at the local Honda shops almost 50 years ago... man, that sounds old. :rolleyes: BTW, if the locating pin gives you trouble, you can always just remove the pin from the switch instead of re-drilling the hole for it. They're just pressed into the switch body, a little forceful wiggle/pull with a pair of vise-grips would do it
 
#10 ·
BTW, if the locating pin gives you trouble, you can always just remove the pin from the switch instead of re-drilling the hole for it. They're just pressed into the switch body, a little forceful wiggle/pull with a pair of vise-grips would do it
I would recommend keeping the pin; without it the switch and attached lever has a tendency to move, which in theory could result in chaffing of the wires, esp the yellow/red starter wire.

Sean
 
#12 ·
I imagine I could prevent any movement by adding a little friction where the switches clamp on, somehow. Good to know my options though.

Tom- did you build these bikes at the Honda factory?! That is incredible. How long where those days back before audio books, iPods, etc, existed?
 
#14 ·
Tom- did you build these bikes at the Honda factory?! That is incredible. How long where those days back before audio books, iPods, etc, existed?
Haha... no Phil, I just started my life in motorcycles at age 14 relegated to busting tires and assembling bikes out of the crate at the first Honda shop I worked at. It taught me a lot about the common wiring colors, the way the parts of the front ends all fit together, how Honda marked some parts with alignment or directional dots to aid proper assembly, lots of little stuff that sticks with you. No, never been to Japan, never even been to Honda school... always wanted to go but the owners always sent either their service managers or the fastest mechanic they had because the fast guys always made more money for the owner. The slower, more methodical guys like me just had to learn on their own and from others, no internet, no videos, few manuals... mostly my Dad at home in the beginning and then personal experience later
 
#15 ·
Ahh, I get it now. Still pretty cool. It’s actually better experience...better than installing one part on many bikes all day long. I was thinking Honda must have had assembly plants in the US for tax reasons. But that scenario must be more for cars than bikes? Anyway- I’d be less than half as far along if it wasn’t for the internet....at least.
 
#16 ·
Well, Honda does have an assembly plant in the US. I want to say it's still in Marysville, Ohio, but when it opened in the late '70s the bikes built there were the CR250 and the CBX, IIRC. I went on vacation to Ohio in Christmas of '79 and thought that they would be just like the US car factories, so my ex-wife and I just drove there from her parents house, walked in and asked about the tour at the front desk... they acted like we was there to steal secrets or something - "we don't do tours" was the blunt, final answer. So I walked away disappointed... :mad:
 
#20 ·
I'm pretty sure some Gold Wings were built in the US too.

Yes, Honda has always played it close to the vest - they still refuse to disclose the sales numbers of 50-year old models long out of production, they're big on the "proprietary info" thing.
 
#17 ·
I bet If you wrote that same message to Honda on social media, they would reply back with the offer of a free guided tour. That would be awesome!
 
#18 ·
Yeah, maybe... but they don't make the CBX anymore (and I owned one at the time) and I'm in no hurry to go to Ohio now anyway. Already saw the Pro Football Hall of Fame and there's nothing else there that I'm interested in - but you're right, social media has a lot more power these days
 
#22 · (Edited)
Final product! Thanks for the recommendation Tom and everyone.

Edit: Also - what about the electrical mount for the tachometer...do you know if the other side goes to the bottom of the handlebar mount stud bolt or to somewhere else? It’s about a 2-inch wire, so the options are limited, hah. But everything around it seems aluminum...





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