My Chang Dong had one harness ripped out and a piece missing. It looked like after a show (I’ve seen some ugly show teardowns, everybody just wants to get home) when the bike and sidecar were separated the wiring was just ripped off. I was thinking of types of connectors that would allow easy removal of the sidecar for service and would come with plenty of wire to allow me to replace my missing pieces.

The small trailer connectors commonly used for household trailers would be perfect for this job. They disconnect easily, last many years, are weather resistant and had one more wire than I need to allow me to add features later. All I needed was a ground, taillight and side light, and a brake light for this job. With the other wire I can add a directional or another light later. It took me quite a bit of fiddling about to get power from the headlight switch and the brake light harness had also been torn off. I made another ground and ran it to a handy spot before I found the broken off one. Oh well, now I have a spare ground when I need it. I’ve run the connector out the middle of the car as you can see because this bike has a swing arm and I don’t want to run close to that.

After testing, soldering and shrink wrapping the wiring on the sidecar side I tied it to the frame where I wanted it to run. Then I tested the other connector to see that everything was correct before trimming, soldering and shrink wrapping the bike side. To keep the wiring loom together I have used the split plastic loom protector sold at Radio Shack and most auto parts stores. As you can see I use a few turns of tape at the ends and a couple in the middle to keep wires from slipping out. It protects the wires from heat and chafing and looks like a factory job.

If you had the battery in the side car as my other bike does, I suggest using a boat quick disconnect on the large cable. I’ll be doing that to my red bike when I service it this winter if it and I last that long in Bay Area traffic.