Recently had a grinding noise when engaging the starter on my 1994 Dyna Wide Glide. Found the aftermarket 66 tooth Ring and pinion gears where not meshing properly and the edges ground down. I replaced these with 102 tooth Rivera Primo ring and pinion gears and when I re-engaged the starter still had the grinding noise from the starter. The starter is an Ultra Thunderfire starter. Is this starter rebuildable and if so what could be the grinding noise?

When I bought the bike back in October it came with the stock starter in a box. I had it tested out and was told it was OK. When I installed the stock starter with the spark plugs out it would spin the engine no problem. As soon as I installed the plugs and created backpressure the starter would engage, and spin but the pinion gear did not move or retract after I released the starter button. What is this about?

 

Taking a guess at this, but it's sounds like the ring gear and starter drive aren't matched in terms of teeth count. Too few or too many teeth (spacing) on one or the other will not cause proper engagement of the ring gear and starter drive, hence the grinding, very much the same principal as the rear drive belt and pulleys. You might check your service manual to verify the proper teeth count of the two items and go from there. Hope you get it worked out.
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It could be a bad starter clutch. Mine is an 07 but I get an occasional grind sound and determined the starter clutch was at fault.

 

Starter clutch? is that like muffler bearings?

 

Dropped the Ultima Thunderfire starter off at a friends shop so they can break it open and take a look. With the internal grinding on this one I'm thinking it is either the internal clutch or gears that have gone bad. I was thinking of cracking open the stock clutch that wont spin under load and looking at that one. Thinking this is a clucth issue. Hoping it is a quick and relatively cheap fix now that fall is getting here soon.

I purchased the ring and pinion together as a set from my local HD dealership and the teeth count matches up. This was evident when the stock starter would spin the clutch and compensator sprocket whith the plugs out of the motor and no compression to cause back pressure.

 

No, it's a real thing. Some people refer to it as the bendix sometimes as well. Harley refers to it as the drive assembly/overrunning clutch. It's the part that engages with the ring gear when you hit the starter.

 

I thought the part that engages the ring gear was the Jack shaft with a pinion gear on the end?

Got a call back from the shop, both gears and the clutch are wiped on the starter. $75.00 and it will be ready Monday afternoon. Gotta get in the wind!

 

Low battery power can create similar symptoms. Put more electricity in the battery and try again. Even better, connect a set of jumper leads and try that first.

I guess I should've read the post above first. Doh!

 

OK, So the hits keep on coming. I got the starter back and after intalling it I found the jackshaft bolt was now to short to thread into the starter shaft. I realized that the mechanic installed the wrong shaft into the it when he rebuilt it. After bringing it back to them he quickly replaced with the correct one.

So now for the new problem. Sometimes when I push the start button on the bike the starter just clicks as if I had a low battery and sometimes it starts. If I jump from direct battery to the starter solinoid (> 12.5 V) or if I push the starter end cap button the bike fires right up. I've checked all of the wires going to the starter and all are tight & I've charged the battery. The starter relay pulls in each time I push the handle bar switch but I only have 11.5 V going to the starter solinoid with 12.5V going to the starter motor. What voltage should I have going from the starter relay to the solinoid and does anyone have any ideas on how to check for a short?

Atleast I can still ride her by pushing the starter end cap button but I don't know how good this is for the starter.