Replacing Levers And Paneling The Dash

Photos by: Frank Kaisler

We have a plan for the King and it starts with this modest tech. We plan to black out this sucker to make it as gnarly as possible, then just add a touch of color. In addition, we'll add a little performance push and prepare this puppy for the open road.

In order to black out the bike we'll wait for the winter season to befall ourselves, then strip the bike and send a bunch of parts to Custom Powder Coating in Dallas for heavy black protection. We're going with this look for a couple of reasons: We're after a cool, tough look and we want ultimate protection for a machine I plan to ride for many years to come.

According to Steve Martz, the owner of Custom Powder coating (see home page), if you have a part with new clean chrome, he will not strip the plating but rough blast the part for good adhesion. That means I will have a couple of layers of plate under the thick powder for serious protection from rust and road grime.

One more reason for the blacked out look. Since this bike will be ridden regularly, I want it to be easy to clean, and have nothing on it to polish. No show bike and easy to touch up. Black will do the job.

In some cases we'll perform the black ritual without the powder coater. More and more parts from the H-D Parts and Accessory Catalog are available in black powder. In this case we're going to replace the polished levers with black ones, and add black vinyl to the dash. You'd be surprised the difference these simple elements make to the overall look. We have also looked over the factory P&A book and discovered several references to blacked-out front ends, although I don't think the kit is mentioned specifically in the touring section for Road Kings. Actually six months later H-D offered complete King front ends powdered in black--the only way to go.

In the meantime we went at the levers and dash. No special tools were needed for this arrangement, although I needed to steal several items from the ol' lady for the dash duties.

Kick the lever operation off by loosening the clutch adjustment. Slip the rubber sleeve back and with a 1/2 and 9/16 open end wrench loosen the lock nut and roll the adjustment up to give the cable a ton of slack. Find your snap ring tool and carefully remove the snap ring. Take your time. If you tweak one, it will mean a trip to the hardware store, because a new set didn't come with the levers.

Push the pivot pin out and work the lever free. Push the Teflon bushing out of the lever and through the cable end.

This is a good time to oil the cable, if needed. String the cable up and let some light oil drain down inside the cable housing. In the past we put a plastic bag over the cable with some oil in it. We taped the bag to the sleeve to hold it from leaking as the oil seeped into the housing. Let it set over night.

Replace the polished lever with the blacked out job. Grease the Teflon pin and the anti-rattle clip on the underside of the lever and replace the cable in the lever. You should have enough slack in the cable to replace the lever. Grease the pin and shove it through the lever body and the lever. Now carefully replace the snap-ring.

The ring has two sides, if you look closely. There's a sharp edged side that should go down for maximum clinch and a rounded edge that should face the lever body.

It's time to adjust the clutch cable. Frank Kaisler, our technical wizard explained his dime theory of adjustment. He also recommended that since the adjustment fittings can rust, that it's a good idea to smear the area with a light oil or grease, then tighten it until only a dime will fit between the cable connection and the lever body. The lock nut was tightened into place and the rubber boot carefully pulled into its protective position.

Then we shifted quickly to the front brake lever. Again the snap-ring had to be removed, then the pin which needed to be greased. It takes some jiggling but the lever comes right out. The new levers are already set with new Teflon bushings so we replace the new black lever, but first a slight trick.

With a long Philips screwdriver, the front brake piston is depressed along with the brake switch. Then the lever is inserted carefully and the pin replaced. It's important to perform this maneuver to prevent damage, but it would take four hands in a very small, delicate space. It was a trick, but possible.

The Philips slipped neatly under the lever and depressed the piston. Frank assisted with the pin and it fell into place. We replaced the snap-ring and presto, one job handled. Already the controls with the black levers appeared more cohesive and uniform.

The dash involved yet more tricks and since it involved electronics, we disconnected the battery. The factory doesn't recommend that you install the black vinyl strips on the bike, because they call for warming the vinyl and the dash to 80 to 100 degrees with a hair dryer. Not prescribed over the gas tanks.

We removed the Philips screw off the bottom of the dash, then the 1/2-inch nut off the top. With a rag on the tank we rocked the dash to the left and began unplugging the wiring harness to the speedo, the idiot lights and the ignition switch. Each loom is held in place with spring like clips which are easily bent out of the way. Finally, the electronic trip gauge switch had to be removed for the dash to be placed on the fire-proof bench for the modification.

We had to bag a bottle of de-natured alcohol from the ol' lady's bath, a set of tweezers and the blow dryer. Frank carefully read the instruction while I stumbled through the procedures, bitching and moaning all the way. He told me the details called for cleaning the surfaces with the alcohol then wiping it clean with clean paper towels three times, each time with a fresh towel. I performed each function exactly as described.

We stripped the plastic liner off the vinyl parts and laid a thermometer between the parts and went to work with the blow-dryer. Since it was 75 degrees in the garage we didn't have far to go. We warmed the dash simultaneously while warming the vinyl parts.

The factory instructions, which come with all the parts, recommended that we use tweezers to remove the adhesive protection strips. They also advised that we start applying the vinyl to the surface at one end and work to the other to prevent bubbles.

We kicked off this operation with a small test, the ignition switch ring. We quickly discovered that the original brushed steel ring was merely tacked down with adhesive and immediately popped loose. We stopped our operation, cleaned the remnants of the glue away and washed the area with alcohol again, and once more applied the heat. With the printed words carefully in correct position the ring slipped into place neatly.

Then the tough part came, the long dash cover that rounded the speedometer with a very thin black strip. With both elements warm I began to peel the elastic backing away with the small household tweezers. Unfortunately, it cam off in chunks. Each new layer was difficult to find and grab, be we made it while sweat beaded on my brow and Frank criticized my every move.

I carefully began at the bottom of the dash and moved upward, constantly worried about placement around the speed. Keep in mind that I'm left handed. In other words, if I did it the opposite way, it would be correctly installed. I probably should have started at the top to insure the thin area around the speedo was correctly installed. Whatever, it landed perfectly and looked damn sharp. This was the perfect example of a dealership service complaint. I'm sure if you let your dealership handle this operation the cost would seem outlandish. Keep in mind that we accomplished this lightweight operation with two experienced mechanics and it took us over an hour before the dash was replaced. It would seem simple, but is far more involved and needs to be carefully executed, which would be costly at a dealership, but well worth it.

That's almost it. We replaced the wire connections and carefully ran the wires and connected the trip switch and made sure the wires were in proper place before we bolted the dash down using blue Permatex thread locker to secure the fasteners. Also make sure the dash trim is returned to it's proper place.

That's it for this quickie. Next time we will install shorter shocks, turn signal brake lights, adjust the shock pressure, install a digital dipstick, an adjustable windshield, windshield bag, bag guard bags and a new 100th anniversary slim seat. In the meantime, let's ride to Walker's Cafe and have a ice cold Corona.

--Bandit