Hey guys,


Ughhh, it's time to replace the battery -- fun times. You see it as one of those things in life that's easy to do, hard to start?


Tell us some of your tips and shortcuts to getting it done fast and right. Have anything odd happen in a routine battery change?

The article brings up the modern loss of the kickstart. Anyone have any interesting mods that allow you to kickstart your bike electronically?



If you missed the quick read, you can find it here: https://www.hdforums.com/articles/20...-disposal.html

Here is a link to all the battery info you will need: https://www.hdforums.com/forum/tags/battery.html


Thanks!

 

All HD

 

All HD's come with sealed batterys now. If you have ever had experience with the batterys that you have to fill and then charge, you can have an acid spill or overflow from the battery when you charge it. Do not use these batterys on your prized possession due to it can cause corrosion and damaged to your ride, side panels, chrome, or anything else that it will come in contact with. HD batterys cost a bit more but it is worth it in the long run. Trust me I have been there and done that with that will fit and is cheaper version...

 

if you have security, do you have to have the code to start the bike back up?

 

The first time you take your batttery out, cut a piece of nylon strap & loop it under the battery. I used some pieces from an old tie down strap. Loop it under & leave the tag ends trapped under the hold down clamp. This way the next time you have to remove it you are no trying to lift it with just your finger tips.
Rini

 

I'm with CB 06: In the long run, the price is worth it; otherwise, you'll end up paying more in repurchasing the part AND in the r&r. Starting your bike when the battery is low (you can tell by the sound of your bike when you hit the start button), is not good for the battery or the starting system. Do yourself a BIG favor and get a pig-tail/battery charging harness so that you can keep your battery from running down when you have your bike parked for a long period. Use a trickle charger (1-3 amps, which allows for a deep charge) that will shut off/stop charging when the battery is fully charged. That will help extend the life of the battery. I have seen HD batteries last for well over 4 years, depending on the bikes charging system, how often a person rides their bike and if they keep it charged when it's down for a while.

 

You may be interested in my experience... I ran the original HD battery (date coded December '01) in my '02 Road King all the way through 2008. I ride pretty frequently from April through November (ish), and during the winter months, I just hook up a 1 amp Battery Tender and leave it during the time I'm not riding. In the summer of 2008, the start up cranking started to slow down, and although the bike was still starting, I decided to buy a new battery for spring 2009. After doing a little research, I thought (at the time) I would get a better deal on a "Thunderstart" battery, that was rated at a higher cold cranking amperage than the OEM battery. This logic was supported by the fact that I had installed a set of Screamin' Eagle high compression pistons, and I thought the higher current battery might help with the initial turnover.
When I installed the battery in spring of '09, I was disappointed to find that the engine had the same slow turnover, but it still started fine, and I drove it that way all last year. As always, I set up the Battery Tender this fall, but when I tried to start the bike up on a 35 degree day in December, the battery was almost completely dead - 3 or 4 revolutions, then click-click-click. I hit it with a 10 amp variable charger for 3 hours while I was working in the garage, and although the charge current receded to about 2 amps, (indicating a near-full charge), the bike still would not start. The bike has 10w40 oil in it, on a 35 degree day - there's no reason that bike shouldn't start right up.
So, I learned my lesson with accessory batteries, and now I'm buying another HD OEM 66010-97B. One of the things that I think is important to realize is that most of these accessory manufacturers have figured out that people buy numbers... if a manufacturer lists a battery with 325 cca, we assume that's better than a battery with 300 cca; and 350 cca would be even better. They get away with this because we have no way of testing the actual cold cranking amps - so they can pretty much make whatever outlandish claims they want and offer a 6 month warranty to cover their butt. If you're looking for a replacement battery, my experience says buy the OEM - it's a better value in the long run.