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When they fail the 5 rollers have flat spots worn into them & the center shaft is worn through the case hardening. I worked at an auto electric rebuilding shop for 19 years & saw many bad starter clutches from Harley starters.
Will this problem be temperature sensitive, only showing up when the engine is warm?
Having replaced many sprag clutches including a few HD ones its my opinion that its the design HD chose to use that makes them more prone to failure than the aftermarket ones. HD uses the spring backed over run type as opposed to the all roller type that All ***** and others use.
Will this problem be temperature sensitive, only showing up when the engine is warm?
Hot starts were more of an issue due to lifter bleed down & heat soak as the engine is harder to turn over. It is important to start the bike with a closed throttle as well. An open throttle fills the cylinder & make the starter work harder.
Most of the starter clutches I have changed could be turned either way , some would eventually grab .
The bottom line is , these are not well made and they fail commonly.
Older bikes seemed to have better starters in them . I started working at a dealership when Shovelheads were still being made , just left there in 2014.
Hey guys, opened it up today...figured id give you some updates...
Things look a lot better than I had originally imagined, dont know what i expected but i expected SOME shavings...
The teeth on the starter looks worn, but if you look online at brand new ones their teeth have the same thing towards the very tip.
So im a little lost here, nothing seems off, I tried to hit the starter a few times and it catches every time....few posts ago someone posted a video of their starter, and mine looks nothing like that..it catches every time.
The grinding noise combined with no ground teeth points more towards compensator but im not sure...ill take any input
I just realized I never checked the actual starter clutch, so im going to take that out tomorrow or next day and hopefully ill find some shavings in there.
The bike is still open, so if anyone has any ideas or wants any pictures, let me know!
It's your starter gear if it ever bangs going in since it does have some flat besides the normal bevel. However, that could be caused by it coming back out when it kicks and bangs. You would get this from a weak battery letting off the key too soon but like you said, you do not do this. What does the contacts on the starter solenoid look like? Is the mica insulation between the pickups on the armature commutator high?
Last edited by Jackie Paper; May 30, 2016 at 03:28 PM.
It's your starter gear if it ever bangs going in since it does have some flat besides the normal bevel. However, that could be caused by it coming back out when it kicks and bangs. You would get this from a weak battery letting off the key too soon but like you said, you do not do this. What does the contacts on the starter solenoid look like? Is the mica insulation between the pickups on the armature commutator high?
Im doing this at my buddies garage, so I cant just go down and check it again but will take a look at it.
I dont know what a brand new one looks like, but what you are saying is the starter gear does not look normal?
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