Procedure for replacing headlight?

[Bill E Bob]

First of all let me say this is NOT a step by step. This is a cry for Help!
I have replaced the headlight 3 times. None of those were fun. The first time that I had to remove the fairings I thought of it as a learning experience. That helped me to go slowly and carefully. The second time I got impatient and careless and snapped a few of the plastic fasteners. The third time, I realized that "there's got to be an easier way." There isn't, but there is a Different way. I found that once you've taken your bike apart the right way, you know a little more about how the bulb is actually held in place. So now, if you have little hands and can work blind, you can leave your fairing on and wiggle your hands down behind the dash and change the bulb.
The service manual says to take your bike apart to change a bulb. Wow. There's got to be a better way. Does anybody know what that would be, or even how to skip a few steps. The ninja 650 is SO much easier. Help.

[cuong-nutz]

Go under your the front fairing of your bike.
remove plug for headlights.
remove headlight bulb boot.
undo the prongs that hold the lightbulb in.
remove light bulb.
Pull off the adapter plug from old light bulb and put onto new.
assembly in reverse.

Now if you are talking about removing the whole headlight assembly, then yes, that requires you to remove the front fairings.

[Gorilla25]

oh, dont forget to swap the adapter plug too

[cuong-nutz]

Originally Posted by Gorilla25

oh, dont forget to swap the adapter plug too

Yes forgot about that. that's important

[Bill E Bob]

Originally Posted by Gorilla25

oh, dont forget to swap the adapter plug too

What adaptor plug? what does it adapt?

[Bill E Bob]

Step one: Go under the front fairing. Should I be working from the ground up? How do I go under the fairing?
Just an aside...This is a moot point because I will never have to replace another headlight bulb, right? Isn't 3 bulbs, a lifetime limit?!

[Gorilla25]

well its an adapter/extender plug. when you remove the bulb theres this piece that attaches to the bulb. pull that off and re-attach it to your new bulb before installing back into the housing.

[cuong-nutz]

Originally Posted by Bill E Bob

Step one: Go under the front fairing. Should I be working from the ground up? How do I go under the fairing?
Just an aside...This is a moot point because I will never have to replace another headlight bulb, right? Isn't 3 bulbs, a lifetime limit?!

Get your hand front under the front above the front wheel.

You will see the adapter attached to the stock light bulb.

Can't explain why your are burning them out unless you are doing wheelies and landing hard or riding through a lot of washboard roads.

[Robinhood]

Link to original page on YouTube.

[CZroe]

Originally Posted by Robinhood

Link to original page on YouTube.

*WARNING*

If you follow his video, you are in danger of accidentally throwing away a part you need!

At least one of the two bulbs has a base with prongs that you plug into. It comes out with the bulb after you disconnect and unclip it, so you might mistake it as part of the bulb assembly. It needs to be disconnected and transferred to your new bulb before you insert and begin putting it back together. Yes, it is strange that a set of prongs plugs into a set of prongs, but it's like some kind of prong extension and the bulb will not fit or clip securely without it.

That said, I was one of the earliest to blow a bulb and had never taken my fairings off. When I saw that I was expected to as part of the service manual procedure, I decided to feel my way around it. I was not comfortable taking off my fairings at that point (I had never done it). It was far easier than I thought to do it blindly with the fairings intact and I have done it a few times now.

[Robinhood]

@CZroe - Thanks for mentioning that. I guess I didnt notice since I read about replacing them before watchin the video.

The extra set of prongs Jet is talking about is the H4 to H7 adapter.