I am in the process of installing the sidecar from my 1999 Ural Bavarian Classic on my 1978 BMW R100/7. I will need to fashion a wiring harness to power the sidecar lights, and also want it to power the lights for a pull behind trailer in the future. Can anyone give me advice about the best way to accomplish this? I am relatively handy, but electrical work has never been my strong suit. Lowell Neff is building the subframe for the BMW. Has anyone used his products? Thanks in advance.
Hi Shawn - You can probably splice into the harness that runs along the rear subframe on it's way to the tail light and turn signal assembly. Then you can run your new wires down the rear upper strut over to the rig and your trailer hitch.
Anyone I've ever talked to has had only good things to say about Lowell Neff. I've seen a few and they have all looked top notch.
Good luck with your conversion and please keep us posted.
Along these same lines, but not Ural specific, has anyone here ever had a bad experience from wiring a sidecar or trailer into one of the new bikes? 'Progress' is making things that used to be simple harder and harder.
As far as Lowell goes a bad experiece with him is about as likely as seeing gas prices at the pump dropping to 30 cents a gallon. Lowell Neff is a craftman who does very good quality and meticulous work that he and his customes can be proud of. He, his work and work ethics are probably the best example of quality and knowledge turned into functional products that we can see.
Wow, great to hear such glowing praise of Lowell's work. He seemed extremely helpful and knowledgable when I spoke to him on the phone. His subframe also required no modification of the stout Ural sidecar frame that another vendors product would require. Does the wiring harness that runs to the rear tailight and blinkers only contain that wiring specific to tail light and blinkers, or is it a large bundle with other wiring. I am just trying to figure out the best way to identify the specific blinker and brake wiring. Are there any problems with adding these extra lights to the system? Will the system have enough power to run the added lights? Will the flasher unit still flash with a sidecar and trailer blinkers? Thanks again for the responses. Shawn.
Shawn,
Different models have different wire looms. The rear wire bundle will have at least the stop, tail, ground and perhaps the license light wire in it. The wiring schematic in your manual (if it exists) will show the color codes of the wires of interest. If not available, a cheap 12v circuit tester will also tell you which wires are feeding which lamps.
The turn signal wires are often in a separate loom on either side of the rear fender. One hot, one ground in each.
3M clamp connectors may be used if you are not hard wiring the connections. I would suggest dousing them well with dielectric grease to prevent oxidation.
Often times a heavy duty flasher unit is needed to eliminate the fluttering of lights due to too much amp draw from auxiliary lighting.
Lonnie
Northwest Sidecars
