Topic: Question: New front and rear indicators

[Chris Liston]

I just won an auction for some really nice aluminum indicators on Ebay.  http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1,1&item=4568965861&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWN%3AIT

They are 2 wire units front and rear.  I know the stock fronts are dual filament with 2 wires.  Could I simply swap in a dual filament bulb in the fronts to retain running lights? Or are the front stock lights grounded differently in the wiring harness to allow for a dual bulb with just 2 wires.

Thanks

[Jonesy]

I ran into this issue with some repro turn signals I got from PartsNMore.com.

The stock front signals had two wires, one being the hot for the turn signal and the other the hot for the running light. Grounding was accomplished through the metal casing, with the ground wire from the wiring harness attaching to the base of the turn signal stem inside the headlight bucket. The socket for this light has two contacts for the respective filaments, and the socket shell forms the ground.

Now, the rear signal, being mounted on a rubber isolator and containing only one filament, has one hot wire for the signal and a ground wire either attached to the metal housing, or the metal base the signal stem attaches to.

The light I bought said two-wire type, so I thought it would work with the running/signal setup, but it turns out it was for a single-filament bulb and the other wire was for the ground. (applicable to the rear signal lamp) So, it didn't work. I think you might run into the same issue. If you can swap the sockets too, they could work as you want them to.

[Chris Liston]

Thanks, if they don't work as running lights I guess I'll deal with it.  or see what I can fab up.  maybe take the stock bulb housing and see if it would fit in the new lights. 

[Chlap]

On a similar issue, I bought some rear signals from denniskirk.com that were supposed to fit my 72 CB750.  They only have one wire coming out of them.  Unfortunately, I didn't look at the wiring diagram until after I put them on the bike to notice that there should be two wires.  Right?  Anyways, I cant return them because they suffered a little bit of damage while I put them on.  Anybody have any ideas on how I could still use them with only one wire?

[Chris Liston]

you cold solder a ground wire to them so that you can run the rear with 2 wires.