The solenoid plunger assembly is a pain to set up,stock too! Those springs and pins are lot's of fun! I gotta get a new plunger assembly,but if the lever works, I might go that route.

 

Yo!

Yeah, the thing works, but it still needs to come apart again. It's a matter obtaining the necessary balance of pressure on and distance of travel of the plunger, i.e., fooling with the springs and spacers. Although mine still kicks in to unengaged mode, it eventually will engage. With the old solenoid, such was often not the case.

hebbes

 

This is prob a real old thread, but I am glad I found it! I am toying with doing the same to mine (67 too) any pics or advice is REALLY appreciated!

dan

 

i got a 67 too! Toyin with doin this.. years ago, ( when it was my only scoot), I stroked it. mild, I think 84.. it really DRAGS on the stock starter, can't kick it too good either! ( that is my age now too!) Any info on your trials and tribulations? I hear we can get gel bats now too? At one time I even found what I thought to be a high torqe starter that fit our years, those 4 HARD to find parts for! It seems earleir even is easier huh! I was thinking going with a gel bat, and if I put this solenoid (manual) in, I would go around all that internal handlebar stuff right?

dan

 

This is good,
I feel like I fell into a tub of butter running across this thread about the Lever action starter solenoid.
Vague is the best description I could give when it comes to any information on the installation side of this thing.
I have an 88 Heritage softail classic. The scoot is so sweet to me, yet I could go on a serious rant over the design of the starter system.
Starter by itself is great, Jack-shaft, bearings, starter gear, all great by themselves, but you can never get the lineup just right, and even if you do it will wear itself out of alignment in record time.
This is a common problem that gets expensive fast. Found a good number of older riders that still use these lever action starter solenoids though I was oblivious to the whole idea.
Spotted one on the scoot of a good mechanic, and he showed me how it worked. Flipping Brilliant is all I have left to say, other than this ol'snarky beast can still learn.

Ride in peace
KingKahuuna

 

I just installed one of these...

Although it really needs a diagram that shows the spring arrangement you are supposed to use i was able to figure it out...

I think the way the instructions are written out; it is subject to misinterpretation...

Step 1. remove your old solenoid per the OEM H-D manual and your golden...

Step 2: stuff the new lever action solenoid where the old one was; maybe use some longer stainless-steel 1/4-20 socket heads, with flat washers & lock washers if you can find them...
Ace Hardware/Home Depot/Lowes has bigger selections than the auto parts/bike shops do... (and much cheaper too)

Step 3: reuse your old spring (the short one, that is the same size as the one already on the lever action solenoid) and retainer this is the cup that fits over the spring which both go on the right side of the fork; and can only be put on after the solenoid has been mounted to the inner primary... you can either use a roll pin like originally held the retainer down or a cotter pin don't make much difference as i see it... cotter pins are less of a PITA to deal with for this assembly; but I already bought a set of roll-pin punches to deal with the disassembly of the old one already... (reference the OEM H-D manual on this for assembly clarity)

Step 4: follow the wiring diagram that comes with the lever-action solenoid as instructed... if you compare it to what is in the OEM H-D manual; you can figure out what is different and understand why and fill in the blanks...

Step 5: Check Alignment, Check Alignment, Check Alignment...
It is pretty much a vital necessity to have a cut-up-outer-primary-Bendix viewer... Donny's Unauthorized Technical Guide V The Shovelhead describes one way to cut one up; Easyrider's Tips & Tricks Vol. 1 describes another. When I get a chance I will take a picture of mine I cut up & upload it to this thread... Until then, you basically want to cut everything away around the 2/3 nearest mounting holes to where the starter jackshaft fits into the outer primary. This will give you a birds eye view of the #1 problem area of Harley Starting Systems, that utilize this mouse trap, rube goldfarb, problematic design... When you start changing starters, inner/outer primary's alignment problems seem to be a common problem that can be solved in some cases by opening up the mounting holes in the outer primary; and if your using the lever action solenoid, you can adjust how much engagement/mesh the starter Bendix gear has with the clutch shell.
This critical alignment, and smooth operation is what causes most infamous starter/cable/solenoid fires; this is why the lever action solenoid mitigates the issue. This is another cool-thing about the lever action solenoid is you can hold it forward & adjust it to perfect engagement/disengagement and you can see beyond a shadow of a doubt that this critical area is functioning as it should be before you ever try to start it; without a lever-action solenoid & cut-up-outer-primary its pretty much a crap shoot otherwise...

Its also not a bad idea to add a redundant battery cut-off switch I got mine from Jegs - Taylor 1037 (http://www.jegs.com/i/Taylor/895/103...13#moreDetails)

Step 6: Check your grounds with a meter, good idea to have at least two from tranny to frame. (All ***** Battery Cables Are The Bomb)

Step 7: Make sure your battery is fully charged, check with a meter yourself.

Step 8: Always make sure your in neutral, before trying to start unless you have really quick reflexes...
put choke on, right hand, holds front brake, left hand to engage starter lever...

Turn ignition to start position; if you have one, Hold the lever action solenoid forward, completing the ground circuit; no more than 10 second bumps at a time, 30 second cool downs in between starts is a generally accepted best practice whether you are using a lever action solenoid or not...
Failure to due this typically results in starters going south long before their time...

Once it starts you let off the lever action solenoid...

Here is a very good, related thread on utilizing a lever action solenoid on a shovelhead that describes how to dump the two relay approach & go with a single ford diesel glow plug relay controller...
http://www.chopcult.com/forum/showthread.php?t=33963

 

Does anyone have a photo of the setup inside the primary.....?

 

let me know if you need some help on this, I'm an expert on em now, but it was painful the first time around.

Once you get it working, you will never go back to the jinky stock style solenoid...

 

Hi. Did you need to shim behind the lever, and ahead of the spring assembly that comes on the lever rod assembly? When I install the spring and retainer, they force the bendix gear onto the ring gear.

 

I ended up playing around with the number of shims (standard flat washers from hardware store) on both sides to get the right tension on the spring so the lever (fork) was not too far back or too far forward...

In addition, had to play around with the thickness and number of thrust washers between the outer primary and the end of the starter jackshaft that rides in it...

Its a back and forth thing that takes a bit to find the sweet spot, which is why you need to cut up a old outer primary cover like I described earlier...

Its the only way you can see & test how everything is fitting/working/engaging without power when its together without tearing up teeth on gears trying to get it right with power and bumping starter...

Without power (disconnect batt) You want to be able to manually work the starter lever and engage the starter bendix gear into the starter ring gear on clutch a far as you can get it to do so without it getting stuck and not returning to its at rest position when you let off starter lever... this is where the spring washers/shims and thrust washers I mentioned earlier come into play...

Don't even try putting in power to anything until it is manually engaging and releasing without power without binding or having the starter jack-shaft bendix gear stick in the starter ring gear...