Ok ! I took the Starter apart because even with jumper cables, skinny ones.. The bike will not turn over.. only clicking with the Chatter.. I had put in a New $58. battery that made no difference on another Bike that was doing the same thing.. I had taken the starter and Solenoid apart and cleaned the contacts. Still nothing on the other bike I went and bought a Dry Cell Battery with 550 cranking amps. then had no more problems... Even after sitting a month or longer..I guess this may be my current problem with the sporty. the starter Runs but No power to spin past taking the slack out of the chain.. Is that what I need for the Sporty.. ??? It has a Advance Auto battery now.. and it did start the bike for a while... Advanced says it is still good just needs charging. I had charged it overnight the day before and tried it...The Guy at the Harley shop said he would check the Starter.. $35.00 that could go to a New battery.... This Sporty was a 1996 Trophy Bike.. and only had 5000 miles on it when I bought it.. the Brake and Clutch Handle show signs of pavement wear..SAD !!! All the wires are clean and tight.. so I don't know..???

 

A little tricky to follow Vic. So you have 2 bikes doing the same thing?

 

Check your battery cables. Pull on them and see if they break. It is common that they corode under the plastic insulation but you cant see it by looking.
Leroy

 

A common problem with Sporties is the starter clutch (starter drive). When you hit the start button, you here a click and the starter tries to turn but nothing happens. The starter appears to operate normally when removed. I've gone through 4 starter drives in the last 100,000 miles, all with similar symptoms. A starter clutch will cost 60-120 bucks and is easy to install. Another problem with 90's Sporties is bad ground cables. For some reason, the cables suffer from internal breaks about half way down. replacing the ground cable is easy to do.

 

I really would wonder the starter going out in only 5k? My 96 has 85k and never have been near the starter yet. That year uses the 1200 style starter in both the 1200 engines and the 883 models.

leroy

 

i have the same problem with my 1999 1200. Starts fine 60% of the time the other 40% starter either hangs up or makes grind noise n smoke out the carb. didn't start doing this until i put dyno coil new ignition, battery ,wiring, starter booster relay, jets in carb. any suggestions?

 

I had that problem with my 02 when the battery cables were slightly loose...to start the bike I'd hold the battery up, hit the starter, et voila :-)

Btw, your bike is insanely good looking!

 

"For from the fact that, to be skeptical about morality, one need not be non-skeptical about every other area, Bett invalidly infers that, to be skeptical about morality, one need not be non-skeptical about any other area. That is to say, to deny the objectivity of morality, it is not necessary to have confidence in the objectivity of every other way of looking at the world; but it does not follow from this that, to deny the objectivity of morality, one need not be certain about the objectivity of at least one other way of looking at the world."

 

Ok. Are we still talking about Sportster starters and batteries?

 

^^^^^ Lol