2004 Wide Glide - what's up with my solenoid end cover....?
 

Hello fellas, long time lurker first time poster :)

Just got my 04 FXDWG delivered to my off the truck today. The guy that sent it to me said that it would need an end cover on the starter solenoid, and it sure does. I ordered one ahead of time and it seems to have a fitmet issue. The top lines up OK, and the lines along the sides do, but the bottom two mounting holes seem to fall a little short of the holes on the actual solenoid case. I'll post pictures as soon as they upload from my phone so that you can see what I mean.

In the mean time, I took my part (from Ebay) to the HD shop today, just to compare the sizes of them, and they are identical. I'm beginning to wonder if this is an aftermarket solenoid / starter. It wouldn't suprise me, the guy that I bought it from replaced a *lot* of stuff on it. I called him and asked and he said it should just be the stock one though.

In the mean time, I'm going to go and drain the gas to refill the tank, change the oil and plugs. It's been sitting for a while. Hopefully someone can shed some light on this for me, I wouldn't mind taking it out on my day off! :icon_headbang:

Pics!
 

Here are the pics.




http://www.matt-carey.com/images/endon.jpg

http://www.matt-carey.com/images/endoff.jpg

That ain't gonna stretch. May need to ebay a whole new starter. Congrats on the bike; my younger bro has an '04, and his is the reason I chose a Wide Glide. A fun set of pics from our '08 SW RoadTrip...

http://i30.tinypic.com/orjvy1.jpg
http://i29.tinypic.com/2uyrwpl.jpg

You should ask the person you bought the end cover from to install it.

Any particular reason you bought a push button end cover instead of a stock replacement?

hey pkelly real classy, and we wonder why everyone thinks we are all rednecks

Bob, quit being a girl. Naz, you realize that's a push-button start, right? It's an aftermarket part used on choppers with minimal wiring. (They're not very safe, either. Anyone walking by can hit the button and start your bike or "Ghostrider" it if it's left in gear...)

Thanks for the comments guys.

After countless hours of running around and confusing the hell out of the local guys at my HD shop, I think I may have found what I'm looking for......well close to it at least.

The guys at the HD shop are still clueless. They sent me down the road to a custom Harley shop and those guys identified this as a 1.6 kw starter, which is an upgrade from stock. I could see that, because there is a bunch of work done to the engine and may need the extra torque to get it kicked over. They had a plate for it that was also push button for 70 bucks. I asked them if they had something more plain with no button for cheaper, they sent me back accross town! :)

I go down to the other place and it's not a Harley shop at all. It's a trailer repair shop.....? Anyways they have their own electrical rebuild section, and the guy had a cover for me that looked better. I took that one home, and it's closer, but not quite exact yet. I'm going to see if they have anything different today that might be closer. I know I could modifiy this one to fit, but don't really want to have to do that.

Worst comes to worst, I'll pull the starter off and take it to my old man. He owns a machine shop and could most definitely come up with something for me, cheaper than 70 bucks!

Bob, sometimes it's better to be seen than heard.

Hey PKellyMC, I see you are properly loaded for a good trip and properly hydrated. Roll on.
:-)

First off, congrats on the new scoot and welcome to the monkey house. I'm kinda partial to '04 Wide Glides. ;) I'd call the guy you got the bike from and ask him where he got the starter, and contact them. Or, since dad's a machinist, have him make you a billet one. Bob, lighten up.