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Low Beam Bulb Replacement


narcosis

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Just had the pleasure of replacing the low beam this morning, 8 minutes start to finish. The third time was definitely easier than the first.

 

Geez! Do you remove the horn or tip it out of the way first? I have yet to do it on the RTLC.

 

I lived in Kitsap County for a few years way back when in Port Orchard.

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I sit in front of the bike on a one gallon Sherman Williams paint can, very important, and reach up behind the light housing and get intimate. I have small hands, for a guy, some may say girly, so that may be my biggest advantage. No other parts are removed are adjusted out of the way.

Edited by Kitsap
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I sit in front of the bike on a one gallon Sherman Williams paint can, very important, and reach up behind the light housing and get intimate. I have small hands, for a guy, some may say girly, so that may be my biggest advantage. No other parts are removed are adjusted out of the way.

 

Afternoon Kitsap

 

 

Well that counts me out as no way in he!! could I sit on a 1 gal can, maybe a 5 gallon bucket though.

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OMG that was hard to do. Somehow I managed to get one of the looped clip ends stuck in the retention tab so I could hardly get it out! I think the loop itself was straddling a metal tab--hard to say couldn't see it very well even w/ a good mirror and light. Anyway, with a lot of persistence I got it free without ham fisting anything. Probably took a good 50 minutes before I figured out how the clips fasten, but now I think I got it for next time so it shouldn't take very long at all. Getting the wiring harness pulled off was tricky until I contorted my hand enough so I could grasp it between thumb and forefinger.

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At 19,000 miles my low beam gave up too. After reading a few dozen posts and watching two YouTube videos three times each, I sat on my 5 gallon paint bucket in front of the bike, visualized the light assembly, reached up under the fairing and changed the bulb in 6 damn minutes. It probably helped that I play guitar and have tough fingertips. One tip - the driver's right side clip is stubborn on and off. Release it first, and re-attatch it first.

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FWIW, yesterday I picked up a replacement to carry w/ me from the local BMW shop and it is a new part number they believe means it is a longer life bulb, we'll see hopefully...

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One tip - the driver's right side clip is stubborn on and off. Release it first, and re-attatch it first.

 

Interesting. I took the rider's right side clip off first and it was easy peasy, then when I took the left side off the right side loop straddled part of the metal tab I had just released it from and got so stuck I thought it was completely hosed and I would have to disassemble the whole bloody thing. I worked it out eventually and yes it took serious finger strength and I play guitar too! When I picked up a new bulb the sales guy at the BMW shop told me the exact same thing happened to him w/ his XR and he ended up doing some serious disassembly to fix it. I think after my experience I'm going to try doing the left side first, then go to the right and see what happens.

Edited by NoelCP
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My low beam went out last weekend at a little over 23K miles. Fortunately I was going past a dealer the next day--Blackfoot Motorsports in Calgary--and they replaced it for no charge (just paid for the bulb).

 

I'm going plan on carrying a spare with me from now on. I noticed that the Osram Nightbreaker H7 Halogen bulb was recommended earlier in this thread. Is it a worthwhile improvement over the stock BMW bulb? Any other suggestions?

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I noticed that the Osram Nightbreaker H7 Halogen bulb was recommended earlier in this thread. Is it a worthwhile improvement over the stock BMW bulb? Any other suggestions?

 

Yes, it is a worthwhile increase in light output. But at a cost in life of bulb. I got a few thousand miles out of my first one, but it was treated a bit rough when I was working on an LED setup. Put my spare Nightbreaker in and it was good till I removed it....more on that later.

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  • 1 year later...

I'm a little late to this discussion. My low beam went out this morning, and I replaced it without benefit of this forum. I looked at the owner's manual and after a few minutes realized the photos are upside down. But it didn't really matter, because I figured out a better solution.

 

You'll need a hammer; good quality duct tape (not that Harbor Freight crap); one 24" 1/4" diameter wooden dowel; a good supply of CR123 A lithium batteries, or if you're adventurous, rechargeable equivalents, if such exist, and a system for on-bike charging; and a Fenix PD 35 flashlight or equivalent.

 

Reach up under the front of the bike and remove the little cover by turning it counterclockwise.

 

Unplug the light. Pull really hard, the damn thing is stuck. Cuss a lot, it helps.

 

Spend about half an hour trying to get those wires off. If you succeed, pull the dead bulb out and replace it with one that probably won't work.

 

Spend the next six hours trying to get the little fish hooks back in place.

 

Now, pick up the hammer and smash a hole in the headlight assembly. Make it as big as you like. Make more than one if it suits you.

 

Easily cram the Fenix PD35 into the hole where the bulb should go, and affix with duct tape.

 

Each time you ride, use the dowel to push the on/off button on the flashlight (it's on the back of the unit, so with just a little practice you can hit it every time). Don't forget to turn the PD35 to maximum output.

 

The above solution should suffice to satisfy federal lighting requirements for motorcycles. If you find yourself out in the night, just use your high beams all the time. They're pretty easy to replace, although the cost of two more PD35s might be a little onerous.

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This weekend I converted the dip beam and the high beam units to Car Rover LED units. To do it I completely removed the headlight unit from the bike.

If I were to ever try and replace a normal bulb on the Dip Beam, I would still remove the complete headlight unit. The high beams are ok in-situ to replace the stock bulb like for like, but it gets really tight trying to do an LED unit.

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Had to do my first low beam at ~10K miles...guess I'm following along the reported trend of short life. I was running errands around town and maybe the 3 on/off cycles within an hour didn't help but early bulb failure seemed never to be a problem for my other bikes, even the HID conversion bulb on my '99RT lasted longer. I replaced the bulb in the auto parts store parking lot and found that the kissing the front of head light nacelle approach was the only way to manage unlatching and re-latching the retainer spring wire.

 

Took me 15 minutes and one run-on 9 syllable cuss word to get it done, but should be easier next time now that I brailed my way through it once. The job would have been way easier if I was in jeans instead of work slacks so I could of gotten on my knees in some kind strange prayer pose instead of crouching. My finger tips were sore for the rest of the day, so I made up the wood dowel tool, pointed out above, for next time and keep it taped to the package of the spare bulb.

 

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Well, the LED headlights (main and Dip) were tried last night in the horrible rain. Motorways, A roads and country lanes,

No one flashed me. I felt that the light placement and brilliance was an order of magnitude better than the stock lights. I highly recommend the LED route.

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01NCLD2PF/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01I4MROB8/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

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