'08 Throttle By Wire Handlebar Swap
A customer bought an '08 Road King and wanted the same bars he had on his Softail. The bars were not designed for the new '08 with Throttle By Wire.
This first picture shows the new Throttle By Wire in the handlebar end.
The first step in removing the throttle is removing the pins from the connector and pulling the wire out of the handlebar. This picture shows the wires entering the bars at the clamp.
With a small screw driver or pick, carefully pry the assembly out of the bar.
Slide the assembly out.
This picture shows the throttle assembly. Note the green plug. Because we are using an earlier style bar, the green plug presents a problem. In this case we chose to replace the Throttle By Wire system with one from a CVO model that doesn't use the plug.
Here is a picture of the inside of the early style bars. Because of the indent for the wires, the green plug doesn't fit. The CVO throttle assembly resolves this issue.
Another problem is the length of the handlebar from the indent for the wires to the end of the bar. This picture is the new style bar.
This picture shows the old style bar and you can see the throttle assembly won't fit. The bar is not long enough to accommodate the new throttle assembly.
To correct the problem with the handlebar length we choose to lengthen the bar. To do this, we took the stock bar and cut the end off. In the previous picture we marked the throttle assembly with a sharpie and used it for measuring.
Here is the stock bar end with the notches for the throttle assembly.
After measuring we cut the bar end off.
This picture shows how much we are extending it.
After lining up the bar end and tacking it in place, we test fitted the throttle assembly before final welding.
Here is the bar end welded on.
After welding we used a burr to smooth out the weld inside the bar.
The out side was carefully ground smooth and sanded to remove sharp edges that could possible catch the grip.
The new CVO throttle assembly was then reinstalled into the bar.
Because the bars used were 1.5" it left a step in the bar that would not normally be seen. Since we matched both sides of the bar, it was on the clutch side as well. The owner filled in these areas with leather strips cut to fit.
Here is a picture of the new bars installed.