1984- 88 Softail's had the external solenoid's on top of the Primary cover. Long story short I'm tired of bendix gear and solenoid issues etc with these troubled early factory harley setups.

Ive heard of guys updating to different transmissions, and primary drives, to allow for more reliable starters /modern electric start setup.

Looking for suggestions to upgrade my 1986 Softail FXST, its all stock at the moment with 80ci evo, stock primary and five speed.

Just want to know the right places to spend my money to make sure I have a turn key bike I can trust.

 

There is actually a sticky in the Evo section concerning starters.

Here you go.

https://www.hdforums.com/forum/showt...=845084&page=1

 

Yes you can update to the more modern system...lot of money...lot of work.
The only practical way to do it, is get with one of the bike dis-mantlers on ebay and get everything from one wrecked bike . You will need the transmission, inner and outer primary, clutch ,starter, starter drive and might as well get the compensator and chain so you have a matched set, as there are minor differences between years. Or you could spend some bucks on the system you have...the system works fine if you use quality parts...the problem is, most of the parts out there now are cheap china knock-offs. If you decide to work on the system you have Spyke or All-***** are the only places you want to shop. You may want to consider eliminating the solenoid altogether with one of these.

 

Or just forget about all that and put a kick start kit in it.

 

Thanks Tom , Ill take a look at both options , my end goal is to just have a bike I can trust and enjoy... Those lever solenoids eliminators seem like a bullet proof method, except finding a spot for that hefty starter relay it needs.... which starter in your opinion is worth the money for these old Softails?

 

You need to run one of those "hefty starter relay's " whether you run the solenoid eliminator or not...you wire it in so the main solenoid only has power when the key is on...if the solenoid ever sticks...you don't have to take the seat off with the starter cranking. Plenty of room for one on the lower half of the splash guard.

I am currently running a Ultima "thunder fire" starter...it is a copy of the spyke starter for half the price...6 years no problems.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/THUNDER-FIRE...torefresh=true