I have a 07 ultra classic. When it was purchased, 7 miles, and upgraded to the screamin' eagle 103 stage 2 kit. It has just over 62k miles. I have replaced the starter now 8 times. The last time was in August and there were 2 put on it that trip. The first one was in the bike about 2 hours when the shaft broke off the end and took some teeth of the clutch basket with it. They put on a new one and everything appeared to work fine until yesterday. I was out doing some xmas shopping and tried to start it. Everything was working except the starter grunted at me like a bad battery. I put a meter on it and it had 12.6v. Tried to start and it went down to 6.6v. Took it in today and they did a battery test and replaced the battery. Got home put it in and the same problem.
1) My guess is another starter issue? Right? Wrong?
2) If it is then any guess why this bike is eating starters? Does the eagle kit raise the compression high enough to be causing the problem?
3) If I wanted to put one last starter on that gets rid of this problem what would I put on it.

Thanks for any help. Nothing worse than a bike sitting in the garage that would not start. Well really not true be sitting in a parking lot waiting on the tow truck that HOG set up for me....another interesting story.

 

Got ACR's or MCR's set up on the motor?

 

Do you have compression releases or S&S ez start cams? If you do, be sure they're functioning correctly. If you don't you've got a real problem.

Are you using using complete HD starters or just replacing the starter clutch? If you're buying HD starters maybe it's time to try another brand. I've replaces some of these starter clutches and *I* can't see what's wrong with the assys I've removed over the replacements but they work..... for a while.

Try going to google and put this in the search box: starters site:www.hdforums.com
That's the easiest way of searching this site. Change the word starters for whatever you're looking for and be sure there's a space between the last word and "site:" There's a ton of info on these subjects.

Good Luck!

 

will try to answer both questions all parts are Harley. The cams are Harley....I think 258's come with the kit, no compression release, not in kit.
The starters have been Harley 1.4 ers. the one that lasted the longest was a 1.8. Heads are what comes in the setup. the only thing I forget is it does have the Harley race tuner and has been dyno'ed. It also was done by Harley to get rid of the knocking Nothing special was done with the upgrade with any parts that did not come with the package

 

An SE 103 Stage II kit for an '07 comes with SE-255 cams. Not 258's. Also no heads and no compression releases. I can't tell what you really have based on your post. If you have SE-258's you should never have a problem starting due to their low cranking pressure. Those are high rpm cams with late intake closing. You might want to do more research to find out what you really have. Probably you need compression releases. But on rare occasions it could be something else.

 

There's your problem. Either get your current heads machined to take compression releases or purchase a set that has them and swap them over.

 

again its the stock kit if you say they come with 255 then I have 255 nothing was changed from stock kit...that's why I said I think 258 because that was done 8 years ago and I was not sure

 

when I was talking about the heads I used the term "setup" knowing the used both parts from the kit and parts from the engine I was trying to say for any parts not listed I used what came in the kit or the engine. nothing else outside that

 

You can:


1) Have manual compression releases installed in your heads. (cheapest)


2) Have your heads fitted with ACR's. Install the wiring harness.


3) Find some takeoff ACR heads. Install the wiring harness.


4) Buy and install one of the S&S easy start cams.


I personally prefer (3). Have no experience with (4).


This will solve your starter problems if it's the compression. Experience says bikes with the SE-255 need the releases.

 

thanks I think we are getting to the point about the compression issue. I did not know if that was or could be the problem. I read your last comment as more than likely it is.. aty this point if I was a coin flip I would come up the same way. trying to verify