Front turn signals

[brianmckewen]

I was going to replace the bulbs but could not remove screws for the lens. Strange. Screws are either rusted so much there is nothing for the screwdriver to bite into or there is another way to get to them. Nothing else on the bike is rusted so this is weird. Flashlight does not show much unfortunately. Any suggestions out there? Thanks gang. Brian.

[brianmckewen]

Never mind. I got a stronger flashlight and see that they are phillips head. Not in the best shape. I will replace them with stainless steel screws if possible.

[Iahawk]

ok, glad you figured it out. I was about to get off my rear and go in the garage and have a look at mine to see. I don't recall mine being difficult to remove. I did replace mine with led bulbs and it made a huge difference in the brightness. I did the tail light and rear turn signals as well. I'm sure I posted a thread on that one..along with replacing the flasher relay.

[brianmckewen]

You replaced the flasher relay to make the LED bulbs blink properly I assume or did you add ballasts? I also have purchased LED bulbs for the rear lights and bought ballasts. Have not installed yet since the little pins on the bulbs are set at different positions and don't line up with the slots on the bulb socket. I bought a new rear light assembly from ebay to work on to make the LED's fit better.

[Iahawk]

yeah, I replaced the flasher relay with one for led's. at first i looked for one with a similar plug but it wasn't happening so i just cut the  wires off the old plug and wired it to the new relay.

the rear led bulbs were wider than my old ones so I used a dremel with router bit to open up the hole for the bulbs a bit.

front bulbs are BA15S style, rears are BAU15S. I found my bulbs on superbrightleds.com

[brianmckewen]

I did not know I could buy the rear bulbs in LED with that other base. I will order some. I bought another rear tail light assembly so that I could also dremel out the holes to make the bulbs fit. I bought it in case I screwed it up I would have a spare. I also plan on getting a windshield so I will hook up the original factory front turn signals sometime before winter. Some of the fall and spring rides to and from work were a little chilly for my bones. I will check out the LED flasher relay. I have ballasts for the rear but will see what kind of bulbs I put in the front first.

[Iahawk]

one trick I learned when dremeling out the rear turn signal holes was to take a shop vac (I have a small, 5 gallon one with a bunch of attachments), change it to blow mode and put a reducer on the hose that fit into one of the turn signal holes.

While dremeling one side you'll want to blow a lot of air into the other hole to force all the plastic debris back out the side your're working on. If you let all the plastic grindings get into the taillight unit you will have a b*tch of a time getting all the junk out. The taillight unit is sealed but the 2 turn signal parts are connected and any junk that gets in there can get trapped inside.

Here's a repost of a pic of my taillight assembly after enlarging the holes for the new bulbs and the bulbs, side by side. You can see the slight difference in width of the bulbs.

[Iahawk]

assuming you're in the US (?) the factory signals are dummys..you'll need to open them up and put some sort of led's in there or go the easy route like I did...buy some used European ones off ebay.

[cleanerman]

Iahawk

What type of headlight bulbs are you using?  They look good.

[Iahawk]

I have recently switched from the original, OEM bulbs to Hella 35W/35W bulbs I found on Amazon. I can’t recall the type bulb..I’m traveling and don’t have access to my maintenance spreadsheet. They type of bulb is printed in very small print on the front of the bulb base, visible if you look at the bulb from the front.

With that being said I can’t recall if this pic was from before or after I changed bulbs…I’m thinking after…but the memory is getting a little fuzzy. I do recall that changing bulbs didn’t seem to change the light out put for better or worse…but I know bulbs will dim over time and mine were 11 years old so I figured it was time to replace them.

[Stig / Major Tom]

I have recently switched from the original, OEM bulbs to Hella 35W/35W bulbs I found on Amazon. I can’t recall the type bulb..I’m traveling and don’t have access to my maintenance spreadsheet. They type of bulb is printed in very small print on the front of the bulb base, visible if you look at the bulb from the front.

With that being said I can’t recall if this pic was from before or after I changed bulbs…I’m thinking after…but the memory is getting a little fuzzy. I do recall that changing bulbs didn’t seem to change the light out put for better or worse…but I know bulbs will dim over time and mine were 11 years old so I figured it was time to replace them.

I know LED headlights are all the thing currently,  but a good 'ol 55/60W incandescent bulb is an amazingly good light!
I love my Like200i  (35/35W)....but the little Liberty150i's 55/60 headlight is so nice. Some folks never ride at night. My every ride starts in the dark - so I really appreciate a good headlight😊

Stig

[Iahawk]

just checked dates...that pic of my headlight is the original bulb..11 years old...I changed out the bulbs to Hella HS1 35/35W bulbs a month later.

Unlike Stig, I have never ridden in pure darkness..and hopefully never will!

[cleanerman]

Thanks for the info on the bulbs.

I guess it is time for a change.