My father in law has an 07 road king that was running fine for a while. Now it wont start the battery is fully charged and the fuses look fine, but the bike wont start. The front headlights and the turn signals dont turn on which is puzzling. When hitting the starter there is a spinning sound almost as if the starter is not engaging. I tapped on the starer to see if it would engage and nothing. It has a stock security system. Please help a son in law out

 

The spinning sound could indicate a failed starter clutch. This is a sprag type component. If you're familiar w automatic transmissions you know what that is. If not, it's sort of a one way roller bearing. The starter must be removed and partially disassembled to replace this.

You may want to remove the outer primary cover and have a look at the pinion and ring gear. There is a coupling between the starter shaft and the pinion gear; highly unlikely there's anything wrong with that (it's a splined steel coupling), but you never know. You'll need to removethe starter to get to that as well.

By the way, if you dig into this and have the starter out, take note of which way the coupling comes out. At first glance it appears to be symmetrical, but it is not, and it must be installed correctly.

 

No need to pull the primary cover off. Being it is 07 Road King, it is the first year the starters don't have the stupid jackshafts on them. Just pull the starter out, by removing the two starter bolts. Once out, get some jumper cables and hook them up to a battery. Next hook positive wire up to the positive post on starter and the negative wire to the starter body. Next take a jumper wire from the positive post of starter to the solenoid post on starter. Take a look at what the starter gear is doing, it should jump out and spin. If it jumps out and doesn't spin then it is the starter clutch. Here's what one looks like.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/360853796598...84.m1423.l2649

If you don't feel confident enough to tear starter apart to replace clutch, then just purchase a new starter.

 

Buy a new starter just because the clutch is shot?

Here`s a better idea:

If you don`t feel confident to tear the starter apart, take it to a starter repair shop and they will do it, for a price much less than a new starter. These starters are commonly used automotive units, the shop will be very familiar with working on them.