Headlight replacement

[Choirguy]

Talking to Sparky_Bill at the IMS, he mentioned that he bought a replacement headlight that uses H4 bulbs (i.e. not sealed beams) for his KYSO Victory (love or leave the color, depending on what type of fuel your bike runs on...petroleum or corn).

Sparky_Bill provided this part # from JC Whitney:

13RQ9314A 55-Watt H-4 Halogen Cycle Headlight 7" round. $17.85 plus $9.95 shipping.

I forgot that Sparky_Bill was moving and went ahead and ordered something before receiving this information...a 7" headlight replacement that uses 9003 Halogen bulbs (like a car) and has the same "prongs" as the H-4...

47ZX0473U Round Off Headlight $19.99 S&H 27.99

I bought a "cool blue" Sylvania 9003 bulb at Checker Auto Parts for $13.00 .

The benefit of the bulb replacement should be:
1) greater intensity of light
2) ease of replacement (do not have to remove the "lens" from the headlight assembly any longer
3) even greater availablity of the stock headlight.

I am also thinking about buying the halogen kit that is made by Harley-Davidson for fog lights, now that I have the deeper fog lights on the bike. I may stop by the Harley dealer tomorrow. I looked through JC Whitney and didn't find anything in that regard. Supposedly they also use easy-to-find bulbs.

It will be a few weeks before it's warm enough to install the new headlight, but I can already tell it is going to work great!

[sstodvictory]

I hope you have better luck with it than I did Chris. I tried a tribar H4 housing from Kuryakyn and had a shop grind off part of the instrument cluster support off to get it in, then had so much trouble replacing a bulb on the road 'cause of the tight fit that I gave up on it. Later I tried a 7 inch H4 housing from JC Whitney and had the same problem, just not as severe with the JC unit. I use a halogen sealed beam now and it goes in easy.

Overall I found that the Victory headlight housing isn't deep enough to accomodate the H4 housings I've tried very comfortably, although I like the beam they throw a lot better than a sealed unit.

Steve

[Swiffer]

I've had one for a couple years now that I'm very happy with. I believe its a Candlepower unit I got from Mudspringers. It is a VERY tight fit because of the bracket in the housing, but so far so good. Bulb replacement is a snap, and it's nice to be able to carry that tiny spare H4 bulb in the tool bag "just in case".

Steve

[sks700]

My headlight housing is the newer style and the JC Whitney unit drops right into it. There are no clearance problems what-so-ever. I know that the "ring" on this new housing is longer than the original.

Lee

[Choirguy]

Well,

Steve (Stoddard's) post had me wondering, so I bundled up, went out into the garage, and removed the headlight. I then came inside to install the new headlight.

The JC Whitney lamp is actually less deep than the stock headlamp, but just as wide and having all necessary "tabs" for lining up.

The one thing I'm not sure about is that the JCWhitney replacement housing also had a "hole" for a "running light." I removed the light housing and rubber gasket for this piece, noting that the Victory housing covers the entire assembly. I'm not sure if this hole will cause any problems, we'll see.

Then I reinstalled the headlight, and tested it. It seems to work great! Then again, I haven't driven anywhere yet.

I came up with an idea about those springs and how to install the light easier. It seemed to work. I put the last "Curl" of the spring on one side of the assembly (where the screw enters), and then guided the screw through the rest of the spring on the other side. That kept those things from becoming a nuisance, and they installed in a moment! (Actually, the toughest part left was plugging in the light itself, as the plug doesn't extend very far!). There's probably some engineering reason NOT to have done that with the springs, but it worked. If they break, or something bad happens, I'll simply replace the springs.

So, all that to say that the JCWhitney Part that I bought as listed above DOES work and fits just great.

[Sparky_Bill]

The one I bought slipped right in without grinding too. I am happy to just have to carry a H4 as well.