Check the shims on the end of the jack shaft. If there deformed, the gear may be traveling to far and binding on the outer primary.

 

had the same problem. bad ground

 

I pulled the primary everything looked ok from what I could tell by visually inspecting it. I checked the wires going to the starter... the green wire coming from the relay that goes to terminal "m" I believe my repair manual calls it. The wire coming from the breaker or fuse that goes the the same post the positive battery cable goes to. The tan wire that goes from the relay to the breaker/fuse and then up to under the gas tank which I didn't follow simply because I didn't feal like pulling the gas tanks off. The black voltage regulator wire. The black ground wire coming from the relay to ground, The battery ground cable.

There were a few wires in a shielding coming from under the gas tank to the relay, which I believe are the black /red relay wire, tan wire and orange and red which go to the brake switch (I believe). in a couple places it looks like the shielding tube is tore and a couple wires looked crimped, but not too bad that I would think it was shorting, but hell I dont know.

I tried the test as mentioned by someone on here. Started with a 12.35dcv, when trying to start on the large terminal (the one coming from the battery accompanied by the wire to the breaker/fuse) I got a reading of 11.18. On the small terminal which the manual refers to as terminal "c" which is the wire coming from the solenoid to the starter I got a reading of .20 and on the terminal that has the green wore coming from the relay that the manual refers to as terminal "m" I obtained a 9.88 reading.


Now I can pull the starter hook it up to a charged battery (negative grounded to starter casing. Positive on large terminal and using a jumper to terminal "m") which is the terminal that connects to the relay by a green wire and the plunger shoots it out and spins like a top (no issues).

I even put the starter back into the bike with all the wires (the relay, breaker and pretty much every damn wire behind the starter under the oil tank) external from the bike, to the side of the bike to make it easier to hook everything up and check things, and it worked fine although I had the black ground from the relay running straight to the battery negative terminal instead of being grounded to the frame and everything worked great i left the primary off so I could see the jackshaft engaging and everything worked like a charm. I re-ran all the wires back down and under the oil tank behind the starter and the same damn thing.

I'm almost convinced its either a short in a wire or that black wire from the relay isn't ground right. I don't know what other grounds to check, I've seen alot of posts here on it being a bad ground. None of my wires are corroded. I Just can't figure this the hell out. before I pulled the starter it went from a "clunk" of the plunger pushing out (but nothing spinning) to a fast chatter. With the starter out of the bike and on the workbench, I did get the chatter with the battery I had in the bake, then I used a battery with full charge and it spun with no problem no chatter. I'm almost convinced its a bad ground or a short in a wire somewhere. I just dont know where else to look other than the wires I've already checked.

 

For those of you that are saying they had the same problem and it was a ground, what ground? where did you have a ground problem? Or better yet how many grounds are there on the bike and where are they so I can check them.

 

when you had the primary off...did you look at the jackshaft bushings ...there is one in the outer primary and one in the inner primary...if they have any scarring it will cause the jackshaft to bind....if you will look at the rear of your primary..with both primaries on...look where the drive belt goes in...just above that you can see the jackshaft...see if you can turn it with your fingers..if not it is binding.....it doesnt take much of a nick in these bushings to make the starter bind....the bushings are about 2.00 apiece.....now i'm going on the assumption that you have checked everything else...connections....is this a new starter ?....was the motor previously running..? to make sure the motor turns over remove the sparkplug,raise the rear wheel,put trans in 5 gear,turn the wheel,if it turns the motor it's ok.......hope this helped....

 

Sounds Like you nailed it down to the black wire from the relay! Check the pins at the plug or the ground at the frame. Hang in there, sometimes it can be a bitch.

 

I checked every wire one the bike for continuity, every one tested ok, none are grounding and everyone that I checked had continuity which eliminates broken wires. So, I dont think its a wire problem.

I pulled the starter and bench tested it just to make sure it was working and to get a reading in dc volts whenever I would put the load of the starter on it. Come to find out the battery I had in the bike would drop from 12.5 volts to around 5 or 6 volts whenever I'd give the starter juice. I have two batteries. With the battery I would do the same test and get at least 10.5 volts when giving the starter juice. So, the battery I'm using can't handle the load of just the starer. Replaced the battery.

I reinstalled the starter ...again, but this time I didnt install the jackshaft to the starter or the jackshaft to starter coupling. hooked everything up and the starter worked fine, try after try. Next I decided to install the jackshaft coupling and jackshaft, which on a 91 the coupling isnt any larger than the jackshaft so I could slide it easily through the oil seal in the primary with no problem. Got the jackshaft on, at this point I believe I gave it a try a couple times to make sure it wasnt binding. I installed the primary to torque specifications and tried it again. "CLICK" wouldn't start, so I pulled the primary and removed the jackshaft from the starter and it worked fine again.

At this point I'm convinced its the jackshaft binding, The outer primary bushing is scarred up a little. The inner primary bushing I can't tell because the pinion gear coupling is in the way, from what I can see it doesn't look too bad.

Harley had to order the inner primary bushing, so I got the out bushing to give it a try first ($6.50 a piece) I think the outer bushing is tore up from the jackshaft lockplate, the pinion gear looks fine, took it with me to harley for a second opinion. I haven't removed the pinion gear coupling because I have to pull the damn clutch just to get to that coupling, the oil seal and the inner bushing. If thats the case after replacing this outer bushing I guess thats what I'll have to do.

Now, on replacing the bushing in the primary cover, is there any tool I need to pull it out and push it in? What would be recommended?


thanks

 

I replaced the primary cover starter/jackshaft bushing. I still have the same problem.

This is where it stands as of now. Whenever I torque the jackshaft bolt to specs the jackshaft is binding. Whenever its not torqued to 7-9 ft lbs, and I only hand tighten it, the starter works fine. Whenever I press the start button with the jackshaft torqued it just makes a clicking noise and there is no movement. With the jackshaft off (or) the jackshaft bolt hand tight the starter works great engaging the clutch gear. With the jackshaft and starter to jackshaft coupler on ...without the pinion gear it binds, this was tested by pulling on the jackshaft bolt, it binds so much as to be hard to pull out and once out will not go back in by its self until I push it in. With the jackshaft off and just the bolt going through to the starter I can pull out and everything is easy both outward and inward. The jackshaft itself is binding on something, there are only 3 things that I know of that could be wrong.

1. the jackshaft bolt is bent, although it doesn't look bent and I've tried 2 different jackshaft bolts with the same outcome.

2. The jackshaft itself is bent, I dont see how this could be but I guess it is possible, thats just an awful lot of metal to be bent.

or
3. Either the starter shaft is bent or the starter is somehow not centered to the jackshaft hole, with the naked eye everything looks straight and I dont see how the starter can be in any other position than where its at considering there are two bolts holding it in place along with a pin that the starter seats on coming out of the inner primary case.


So what does this sound like it is? ... I haven't priced a jackshaft yet, and what really gets me is that when I first got the new starter it worked fine for 2 weeks and then it started to click and not engage, what would have caused it to be fine for 2 weeks and then start having problems I had with my old starter? I'm almost positive the jackshaft is binding up in the oil seal hole.