Installing Blazer Flushmounts

Editor's note: This is a long-lost article from 2002, but Blazer still makes these lights, and there's a good chance you can find them or something similar at a local auto or big-truck store. These are made as clearance or marker lights for heavy trucks. See here for Blazer's current selection.

If your OEM front turn signals are broken, or you are looking for a flushmount turn signals solution, here is one. It may not be the best or most beautiful, but it's definitely the cheapest and fastest.

Stuff you need:

• A pair of Blazer brand truck marker lights
• Two bulbs, number 1156 - You can take them from the stock lights. Bulb #3497 should also work.
• Six bolts with nuts and washers (three per light base). Chances are that you have them already lying around your garage.
• Two nuts for the lens attachment (size unknown)
• Sabre saw or manual reciprocal saw
• Scissors
• Pliers
• Screwdrivers
• Super glue

The marker lights come with very dim, small bulbs. Throw them away.

First, you need to modify the base in two steps:

• Take the bulb socket out of the base
• Cut the base so the bulb itself can slide through.

To cut the base, use a sabre saw or something similar. You should get something like this:

All those ugly cuts will be hidden. No worries. Next, take scissors and cut the foam pads that come with the lights. The idea is the same - the bulb should slide through.

Now, connect the wires to the bulb socket. These are sold as truck marker lights, and they only come with one wire (for the 12 volt 'hot' lead). On a truck they would pick up the ground from the metal on the truck cab. Since the fairing is plastic and doesn't conduct electricity, you need to run one of the bulb wires to one of the bolts that contacts the socket for ground. Incandescent bulbs don't care about polarity, which means it doesn't matter which wire you use for 12v and which is ground. If you want to be consistent, though, black and yellow is ground throughout the bike. A crimp ring connector will work better than the bare wire shown in this picture.

Use the original signal wires if you can. Connect to the stock wires using crimp connectors and heat shrink tubing. Keep in mind that whatever kind of connectors you use, you'll need to be able to unhook the turn signal wires to be able to remove the fairing.

Connectors that are sold with heat shrink already on them are very convenient.

The rest is easy if you have the bolts.

The only thing is left to do is attach the lens. You need to find a nut that will fit under the housing and superglue it so it will stay in place. Remove the bulb, put a drop of super glue on the nut, and place it as shown in the picture below. Be careful with the glue; don't get it on the lens.

Put the lens in place, tighten the bolt, and wait until the glue is cured. Remove the lens, put the bulb in place, and attach the lens. You're done.