This is a short video intended to help navigate your way through a battery removal on the brand new 2018 Softail models . This is a street bob model. Thanks
This is such an improvement over the old design. You used to take the entire seat off; now you get to yank on all kinds of wiring and stick tools in half-blind to reach the terminals also.
Great video! Would recommend one suggestion. Might want to put a rag over the oil dipstick hole. Knowing "Murphy", something will fall into it.....Best, The Sailor
Hey, I had to pull my battery out this weekend. Wanted to say thanks for the in depth video. Saved me a lot of trouble since I was able to prepare before starting. Tip for anyone out there: Instead of a Phillips screwdriver, use a 10mm socket with an extension to get the screws off the battery. By doing this, you can use something like Hold-A-Gasket in the socket so can easily pull the screw out (or put it back in). Chewing gum works in a pinch too.
Definitely agreed about plugging the open hole with a rag! The new shock design is amazing but the battery access and removal must have been a last minute rush design at the 11th hour.
I think 'amazing' is stretching things a little! It's an improvement, yes, but I have to remove the seat on my Heritage just to adjust pre-load. That's crap. As is the design of the saddlebags - but that's a different gripe :)
The monoshock is outstanding!. That along with the increased lean angle on my 2019 Heritage 114, make it a comfortable and capable cornering machine. The 114 Milwaukee 8 is fast and fun!
Great video, this really did a good job of showing the items that you are talking about while removing them. The rest of the videos people tend to post usually include vague references to parts that need to be removed. This was great
Thanks a lot mate! I was lost without your video!!! I m not mechanician, and my battery failed a few days ago and my harley garage is quite far from me... so thank you really.
I so want to thank you for posting this video. You have know idea how much you saved me with this. I was used to my Pro Street Chopper were all you had to do was remove the seat release two clamps and your done. Hell...I think this video even saved my marriage.
what a terrible mess, just to dismount a battery! it's really designed for it to be done at official dealers! Who will help themselves on the side of the road, with such a complicated process ??? what a shit !!!
That's exactly why they did it. Harley is run by greedy bastards now. All their bling bling that is overpriced, etc. Dealerships having to be extra special fancy looking to qualify for a franchise.
Video was very helpful, thanks!!! BUT who's the wonky R&D that designed this quacky of a maintenance, could have just designed it as a pull thru from the other side...WTF seriously my child could have done a better job with a crayon ( hello Harley, pls. push/put all the wiring, connector, terminals, clips, etc. to "one(1) side pick a side, any side"...
I feel like Harley did it on purpose too make customers come spend their money at the Stealership because they can't, won't or don't know how to do this, or are just simply afraid of turning a wrench. (A lot of people are)
@@PotatoeJoe69 The stealerships (that's great) keep trying to convince us that if you wrench on your own bike, the warranty will be null and void. Yeah I know there is no warranty on a battery, just saying...
Thanks for the concise video. The only things I did differently was using a flat head to help with that second rear clip, my fat fingers couldn’t get it. And I just opened the retaining clip instead of removing it, I tend to break them to often.
@@shamon5361 ABS and alarm are always included (non-optional) in Europe. 25% of HD (which is going to Europe) is no longer produced in the States, thanks to Trump. Which means at least 25% of the readers will face the alarm going off, when the battery is disconnected and not being able to turn it off.
Always pull the main fuse before removing the battery or you'll have to clear a bunch of codes afterwards. Also stuff a rag or paper towel in the oil tank hole before removing the battery.
What the actual f*&k were Harley thinking with this design? I've owned a lot of bikes, none have been anywhere near this much of an absolute pain in the ass to get out the battery...
@@alohatatt13 Most of them come with battery tender pigtails already attached to the battery (either by H-D or the supplying dealer), it makes life a lot easier. I've got a 114 Heritage Classic and it would appear that a few of them suffer from a parasitic battery draw as I found out yesterday after 4 days not riding it....battery flat as f**k! It would have been useful on what is an otherwise very helpful vid to mention to remove the main fuse after switching on the ignition as the alarm will sound when the battery is disconnected.
This is why i don’t like letting the dealer work on my stuff . I had my 3 holes changed after my 1000 inspection and they left all 3 hole plugs loose. One was only turned a couple of turns exposing a lot of threads. I’m an aerospace technician and engineer . I’m very capable so I just said I’m done I’ll work on my own bike . If something fell in that engine with the oil cap off and nothing was said and the customer had problems , all because of not sticking a rag in the hole that would suck and the stem of the problem most likely would never get rooted to the stupid cause but someone would hopefully be under warranty and if not the work and time the bike being in the shop and potentially other issues from hacks doing more work , I don’t even want to think about it .
I am glad I watched your video before just going at it. This is definitely not my old Kawasaki Vulcan which was remove seat and pull out battery. What the hell was Harley thinking?!?
Agreed, but Kawasaki Vulcans don't have a mono shock blocking the battery. The engineers have to cram a lot of stuff into a small space, and that is the end result.
Отличная инструкция для доступа к клеммам аккумулятора, с целью подключения зарядного устройства. Спасибо автору видео👍 В противном случае уже думал снимать амортизатор для доступа сверху
Hi. Great video. Def will help. I’m trying to get to the fuse box on a 2018 FLDE. Is it behind the battery? My battery tender is not charging and I’m being told it could be a bad fuse.
Great video, to the point, watched it twice and pulled my own battery from 2020fxbb. The only difference is that I didnt remove the oil cap, and battery slid out at slight angle.
What is the max amp draw on the m8 accessory wiring kit and could this be setup to run a Kuryakyn soundbar, a denali air horn, and a dual led flag pole whip antenna kit or do additional power wire leads need to be run to the battery? I'm assuming there is a need for additional power and there is no room at all on my 2021 street bob fxbbs for a fuse box/block. Any ideas how to run additional battery power lead for multiple devices like this on my bike without creating a wiring mess in the cramped space available both fused and relayed? Could you make a tutorial or know of any available?
That was a pain in the butt. I kept the dipstick in until I was ready to move stuff off. Once I got to that point I removed the dipstick and took a clean sock and stuff it in so nothing would fall into the engine instead of pulling the plug that holds the wires together...I just undid the clip then undid the ABS module line. My battery didn't lift out very easily...so I used a long flat head screwdriver to push it up a little while I pulled it out. I then replaced the stock lead acid battery with a HD Lithium Ion battery. On the Low Rider S...it shaved about 12-13 lbs of weight off the bike. Clipping the battery strap into place wasn't fun. The HD Lithium battery came with some shorter bolts...I used those to attach the leads to. Before putting them on...I put the bolt through the wire head...then used a long pair of needle nose pliers to position the wire in place and a Phillips to push down on the bolt/screw and get it going. Then did final tightening with a 10mm 6 pt socket on a long extension. The tools to be used in the video were helpful. The designer of the bike...made it look nice almost like a Hardtail...but this came at the cost of an easier design to perform maintenance.
This is a helpful video but DAMN! I have an ‘18 Slim and my battery has been drained from winter sitting. Now I just want to jump it but can’t get to the positive side to jump it. I can’t believe it takes removing the whole battery! Any ideas?
Can the harness be used to jump start a dead battery? I have been unable to find an attachment that can connect the harness to regular jumpstart cables.
Hello, I have a Softail Standard, my problem is the battery pull out. Now I've seen you pull a strap under the battery, it's the series I don't have it. Tom
Harley couldn’t make a little harder.. but thanks for this video.. i bought a power panel to make all my ad on easy to install.. so don’t have to touch that battery again.. my hands are killing me and lost skin also lol.. Harley-Davidson is probably charge 3 hours labor on a battery change
I have this bike and my question is how the hell are you suppose to hook a charger up to it if the battery dies out on a ride? That'd the 1st question that came to mind. What was harley thinking with this design?
Great video! You make it look easy bro lol. I was watching this video to learn how to access/locate the positive and negative terminals because I want to install a lightbar. Does the plastic cover that you remove at 3:39 need to be taken out in order to access the positive?
I'm glad im not the only one that thinks the new softail battery location is rediculous. I removed the side covers and seat to hook up a maintainer and shook my head 🤦♂️ I knew I would figure it out if I wanted to but I was waiting untill I needed a new battery to just install everything at once. Figured I'd watch a video to make sure I don't take too much apart 😅
