Toro 928 HD Heated Grip Install

Couldnt help myself the other day, I splurged and bought the heated grips thru Toro. They dont have a kit persay, (that I know of), buy it piece by piece, I only purchased the grips. The wiring is straight forward so I'll do my own kit. Heated grip part number...131-6460, (you'll need 2 FYI)

just to add I recently came across the wiring harness part number 138-3644. I dont need it but thought I'd post it up for a reference.

Now I dont know why (other than their cost) but really there is no real reason Toro couldnt have the heated grip installed right out of the box. The 928 HD shares the exact same 37.5 watt stator as the 1030 HD model (heated grips standard). The wider arched levers are also already installed. If the model is an HD, ergo heated grips should automatically be included in the package. Customers want them, they're penny pinching.
Anyway...



OK, I have and installed many a hand warmer kit on sleds and quads but this will be my first when it comes to a snowblower. Originally I was planning on throwing a set of heated grips from a sled, but those handlebars are all 7/8" diameter, the Toro bars are 1".

So to start with, I really, really like the factory grips, I tried for days using every trick in the book to get them off to save, but to no avail. The epoxy that Toro uses is something else and it was all in the grips end. It was a shame but I finally had to run a blade thru them and peel them off.
(I'd already removed and scuffed before I remembered to take some photo's...)



Pic shows some grip/epoxy residue which I removed with emory cloth. I didnt remove it all, just enough to be able to push the new grips on.
The new grips do come with epoxy and 2 rivets per grip. I had no intention of using the epoxy, I'll save and use on something else in the future.
The rivets offer more than enough holding power for my use.




If you look above you can see one of the two pre-drilled rivet holes (on each handlebar) thanks to Toro. I knew that going in, but still nice to see, no guess work needed.

Here is a pic of the package with part number...Again, you'll need two.



Now to put the 2 rivets (included in the package) on either side of each grip.



I cut the plug ends off both grips right away as they werent going to fit anything I have in stock. This is them. Bullet connectors is what I used instead.



Here is the stock factory wiring, stator wire and the ground wire leading directly to the LED.



I cut out both factory plugs (the 2 white ones) from the stator/LED light as they too were not going to be used as well as rerouted.
As you can see in the following pic, I added a bullet connector to both the stators power wire and the positive wire leading to the LED, the original ground wire I left alone. I removed the ground bolt and added/routed a new ground wire from the engine block (where the original ground wire still is) up the bars to the dashboard along with the stator wire and LED wire, (the new power wire is also there but out of the shot). I put liquid tape on all joints, surrounded the wires in loom and zip-tied in place.





The dashboard already has a plug filling the cut-out for a rocker switch, (see very top photo), which was nice of them. I popped that out and put in a marine grade SPDT rocker switch which I carry for for boat accessories. Easy peasy.
No pic showing the underside wiring, too hard to balance the blower while taking a pic...Straight forward again. Using spade connectors, I wired the LED to one side of the switch and the handwarmers on the other, the switch is off when resting in the middle position. I could have easily put the LED in series with the handwarmers but left it this way for now, easy to change up in the future, but I really dont see myself needing the LED.
I also added a 10 amp inline fuse (before and next to the switch) to the in coming power wire from the stator. If 10 amp fuse is not enough I'll step it up to a 15.

edit to add...
After reading thru this post again I see where many may have trouble with the wiring of the grips themselves. I didnt post originally as it's really quite simple.
Pic below shows a mock up of the wiring...
I wired the 2 wire grips in series which supplies 12 volts equally, with one grip being connected/joined/spliced to the other (1 wire from each grip, it makes no difference which), now 1 grip wire connects to the newly added ground wire from the engine and the other remaining wire goes to the switch. I did not use a resistor as I am not concerned with having a hi-lo control, hi heat is sufficient for me, turning them on-off as needed.



To add, the same ground wire from the engine also supplies ground to the switch. Not all switches require a ground, this one does.
I hope this makes sense to those that need it.



Everything works as intended, (works very well actually, even at half throttle), I look forward to really trying them out soon.

edit to add
I've put the handwarmers to good use the past few days...All I can say is 'fantastic upgrade'! It now feels odd/somewhat lacking using any of my other blowers without them.