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General Topics/Tech TipsDiscussion on break in periods, rider comfort, seats and pad suggestions. Tech tips as they become available will be posted here.
Hey hows it going fellas Im new here. I recently bought a 76 Harley Davidson sportster. Bought it as a project bike. Previous owner put a new battery on it, new voltage voltage regulator, new ignition switch.
On my way to pic it up he messaged me and said they found a kill switch wire that was loose and needed to be soldered on. I started there, with no change in condition of the bike. Im pretty positive its a electrical problem, when I turn the key the lights dont kick on or anything.
Also noticed these cut wires near the rear wheel cover.
On a 46 yr old bike there`s no telling what has been buggered or changed by previous owners
Get a wiring schematic , a multi meter , a test light , and a 5 gallon bucket of patience.
Start at the beginning , kick only old bike doesn`t have many wires !
Good luck
Keep in mind in stock form the headlight / taillamp don`t come on until 2nd position of ignition switch
Your Gen & Oil lights should light in 1st position and the brake light work when you activate either brake
Last edited by eighteight; Jan 31, 2022 at 01:52 PM.
On a 46 yr old bike there`s no telling what has been buggered or changed by previous owners
Get a wiring schematic , a multi meter , a test light , and a 5 gallon bucket of patience.
Start at the beginning , kick only old bike doesn`t have many wires !
Good luck
Keep in mind in stock form the headlight / taillamp don`t come on until 2nd position of ignition switch
Your Gen & Oil lights should light in 1st position and the brake light work when you activate either brake
Awesome thanks for the response. I have no prior knowledge of bikes. This is my first bike, Im more of a car guy. Im in the Midwest so when its not as cold out Ill start digging in.
I can't tell much from the picture, but the pictire at the cut wires is of a circuit breaker (think of a fuse that resets). They may have bypassed that for some reason, like the kill switch, but it seems like it must have run as some point after that. So as mentioned above, start at the battery and trace it down. And I suggest a factory OEM HD service manual that includes electrical / wiring harness connections.
It's a fairly simply setup with points (hasn't been upgraded to electronic ignition) and unless something is seriously wrong in other places, you should be able to run a hot to the positive side of the coil to get it to start by kicking it or with the starter if it has one. And while that doesn't solve your problem, it should allow you to hear it run to evaluate the engine condition if that is part of your goals.
You really needs a HD service manual to worik on this. On an older bike you may be able to find a good deal on a used one.
What you have there is an Iron Head Sportster. Get a manual check it all out like pgreer said. Once you know it you can simple it up a bit to make it easier on your brain. That way you know what you have. And if it is a kicker only I suggest putting an electric starter on it. It will save your knee. I had one of those years ago. After hyper extending my knee more than once I put a starter on it. Looks like someone has already put an S&S carb on it for you.
It's a nice lookin little Iron Head. A lot cleaner than mine was when I got it. Get to know someone in your area who has one. Or find someone who is old school. Those folk have a lot of knowledge on the older stuff. It looks like you have a normal Iron Head. The one I had was an old dirt track bike. the rear foot break, and the shifter were opposite of each other. When I had mine I had 2 friends that had Iron Heads. It was nice because if there were problems we could put our heads together and get the problem figured out.
What you have there is an Iron Head Sportster. The one I had was an old dirt track bike. the rear foot break, and the shifter were opposite of each other
FWIW: ALL Sportsters `57-`74 were L.H. brake and R.H. shift
FWIW: ALL Sportsters `57-`74 were L.H. brake and R.H. shift
Mine was a 71. That LH brake, and RH shift was a PITA when you got on someone else's bike. Had to relearn, then when I got back on the Sportster had to relearn again.
Not to worry, got the shifting pattern worked out when I got rid of the Iron Head
hummmmmmm????
relearn
should be second nature. i own a 1974 ch with electric foot and a 01 sport, jump on one or the other, no promblemo! (48 years)
of course i have owned over 40 machines
where you need presence of mind is a rotary shift that kawasaki had.
I just got me my first harley and it happens to be a 76 xlh electric ironhead as well with some of the same issues.whished mine looked as nice as yours though.
Those wires need to get hook back up and by the looks of it they are part of your lighting circut( I.e. tail, head,indicator.etc....) but yeah I press the switch and get a 2v drop across the whole ordeal. I replaced the starter solinoid, starter relay, starter relay solinoid, and nothing. I jumped it across all relays and it works, just not passed the starter push button. I found a unusually high impedance when the regulator is attached as well (22.6ohms) . Without it I get .03 ohms. I'm going to look into it a little bit more. Hope this speeds things along.
Another thing is unhook the cable to the starter and just make sure every thing past the connection between the button and first relay engage
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Help with 76 sportster
