A good share of the people who land on this site skip the menus and type a number straight into the search box: 90718-79C, 49206-04, 59002-98. They already know exactly what they need. This page is for everyone else, the rider who has a part in one hand and a parts diagram in the other and is not sure whether "71567-96" from a 2012 bike is the same thing as the "71567-96" on their 2009.
Short version: it usually is, and the number tells you why. Here is how to read one, using parts that are on our shelves in Euclid as we write this.
The classic format: five digits, a dash, two digits, maybe a letter
Of the 7,339 used parts we have listed today, 6,621 carry a factory part number, and 5,801 of those are in the format Harley used for decades:
71567-96 (a left-hand switch housing off a 2012 Electra Glide Ultra)
- 71567 is the base number. It identifies the part itself. The first two digits loosely group parts by system; more on that below.
- 96 is the year the part number was first released. It is not the year the part fits. That switch housing was designed for 1996 bikes and Harley kept fitting the same part through 2016. We pulled ours off a 2012.
- A trailing letter, when there is one, is a revision. 68789-96A is the first revised version of 68789-96. Same job, changed part. Whether an "A" part swaps with the original depends on the part, which is why the letter is worth paying attention to.
Revisions are common. 2,355 of our standard-format parts carry a letter, and the spread tells you how often Harley reworks a part:
| Suffix | Parts on our shelf |
|---|---|
| A | 1,383 |
| B | 555 |
| C | 237 |
| D | 101 |
| E, F, G, H | 77 combined |
A "D" or later means the part has been reworked at least four times. If you are matching one of those, match the letter too, or call us with your VIN.
The year code, and why it is the most misread part of the number
The most common year codes on our shelves are -06 (514 parts), -07 (453), -08 (438), -09 (425), -04 (406), -00 (404) and -96 (378). That lines up with the years Harley redesigned things: the Twin Cam 88 in 1999 and 2000, the Twin Cam 96 and 6-speed in 2007, the Touring frame in 2009. A part number ending in -96 is not a 1996 part. It is a design that dates from 1996, which may have stayed on the bike for twenty years.
So when a listing says "2012 Electra Glide" and the part number says "-96", nothing is wrong. Look at the fitment years on the listing instead. Ours show the donor bike's production run; that switch housing is listed as fitting 2007 to 2016.
What the first two digits usually point to
Harley never published a public key to the base number, but with several thousand parts on the shelf, the pattern is plain enough. This is what the leading digits most often mean in our inventory. Treat it as a way to sanity-check a number, not as gospel.
| Number starts with | Most often on our shelf | Parts we have listed |
|---|---|---|
| 31 | Starters, coils, spark plug leads | 205 |
| 33 and 34 | Shift linkage, transmissions, ECMs | 340 |
| 40 | Drive belts, pulleys, sprockets | 218 |
| 41 and 43 | Axles, wheels and rims, master cylinders | 383 |
| 42 and 44 | Brake pedals, calipers, brake lines | 330 |
| 45 | Fork legs, triple trees, hand controls | 231 |
| 47 | Frames, swingarms, engine mount hardware | 564 |
| 49 and 50 | Engine guards, footrests, pegs | 287 |
| 52 and 53 | Seats, luggage racks, Tour-Pak boxes | 269 |
| 58 | Fairings, fairing skirts and panels | 176 |
| 59 | Fenders, tail lamps, turn signals | 147 |
| 60 | Primary covers, clutch parts, guards | 223 |
| 61 and 62 | Fuel tanks, dash consoles, sending units, dipsticks | 272 |
| 66 | Side covers, oil tanks, holders | 193 |
| 67, 68 and 69 | Gauges, modules (TSSM), lights, horns | 622 |
| 70 and 71 | Wiring harnesses, switch housings, locksets, consoles | 430 |
| 74 | Regulators and rectifiers, volt meters | 97 |
If someone offers you a "frame" with a number starting 71, something is off.
The newer format: eight digits, no dash
From roughly 2010 onward, Harley started issuing new part numbers as an eight-digit string with no dash and no year code: 69200301, 41100037, 76000075D. The leading digits still tend to follow the old groupings (a 41xxxxxx is still likely to be a wheel or axle part), and a trailing letter is still a revision. Both formats sit side by side on the same bikes for years, so a 2014 Touring model will carry plenty of -09 and -96 numbers alongside its eight-digit ones.
Cross-references: one part, several numbers
Parts get superseded, packaged differently, or sold as a set, and each of those gets its own number. Our listings carry the related numbers we know of alongside the main one. That switch housing, 71567-96, is cross-referenced on our listing to 71682-06 and 71685-06. A 2007 Street Glide rear wheel we have listed, 41288-06A, cross-references to its tire size, 150/80B16 M/C 77H, because that is what people search for.
So if your diagram gives you one number and our listing shows another, check the cross-reference list on the listing before deciding it is the wrong part.
How to find the number for your part
- Look at the part. Many Harley parts carry the number cast or stamped into them. Watch out: a casting number is sometimes different from the orderable part number, especially on covers and brackets.
- Use a parts diagram. The factory parts catalog (the old microfiche, now online at most dealers) is organized by model and year, and each diagram calls out the number. Your VIN is the fastest way in: the tenth character is the model year, and the model code is in the first few characters.
- Search our store by number, dash included. Type it exactly as printed: 71567-96, not 7156796. As we write this, the first search finds 18 listings and the second finds one. Those 18 are worth a look on their own: the same 71567-96 switch housing turns up on Electra Glides, Dyna Low Riders and a 2006 Sportster 1200 Low, because Harley used one part across three families. The number is what tells you that; the model name never would.
- Call us with the VIN. +1 440-817-0268, Monday to Friday 9 to 5. If we have a bike of your year and model on the floor, we can walk out and look.
A quick guide to the model codes you will see on our listings
Part numbers tell you the part. Model codes tell you the bike, and every listing on our site carries one. The ones you will see most:
- FLHT Electra Glide, FLHX Street Glide, FLHR Road King, FLTR Road Glide (all Touring)
- FXD Dyna, FLST and FXST Softail, XL Sportster
- Trailing letters add the trim: C Classic, U Ultra, S Special or Springer depending on the family, and an I on 2006-and-earlier bikes means fuel injected (FLHTCUI, FLHRCI). Once everything was injected, Harley dropped the I.
Put it together and "2005 FLHTCUI 71567-96" reads as: 2005 Electra Glide Ultra Classic, fuel injected, left-hand switch housing, design from 1996.
Search our full inventory, or start from your bike: Touring, Dyna, Softail, Sportster.
Written by the Exclusive Harley Parts team, Euclid, Ohio. Stock counts are from our live inventory on September 13, 2026 and change daily. This article was drafted with AI assistance from our own catalog data and reviewed by our staff before publishing.