hi all , like many out there with this bike we have battled with the poor starting systems.
Like many of you , starters, jackshafts, solenoids, relays etc it never seemed to go away.
Well at last , for me anyway an old fella who lives and breathes electrical stuff got me sorted.
It was very simple too. We simply added decent relay (like used on small bikes) to the circuit before the main Harley soliniod. We used a relay part RC18-025 12v )I had tried this before with an extra start relay but that didn’t really work. The problem was they need to be large. This extra relay with its own larger power feed direct from the battery now chucks a decent amount of power into the switch side of the main soliniod. I’ve had zero problems since. For years I’ve had trouble and it’s all gone.
Had to sign on here and spread the word because life’s too short to not be riding!
I’m totally new to this sight so will try figure out how to chuck on some pics of mine.
Good hard

 

88 was the last year they had a shovel starter on all big twins
we developed this set up for the run on issue that happens with the early starter before the Honda starter came along and share it with the guys as it does a couple of things at the same time

 

hey bruce - i have the exact same bike and am having start issues. where did you get this bigger starter? is there a link or a company you can share so i can pick one up too? thanks!

 

Good thing ya put this in the Shovelhead section... Might get missed otherwise...
I contend that 90% of Starting problems rest with **** poor Batteries... or... YMMV
Ya could always just buy a Twinky!!!!

 

I find more bad battery cables, bad grounding issues, burnt solenoid contacts due to the first two issues and finally about 30% of shovel starters in general with worn out brushes and burnt armatures in the starters. Got a crate full of cooked starters out in the shed.

When I find one that's trashing the solenoid regular I drop the end off the starter, 9 out of 10 the brushes are toast in the Hitachi's.

 

I dunno about more wiring problems than Battery problems???? Maybe but I'm going 50-50.
Never touched the Starters on the '82, nor the '83, and the '83 is turning a compression, and cam, and timing jumped Evo...
Prestolite starters on the Shovel FXR tho...

 

Believe it or not old battery cable corroded inside up the sheathing, it'll lose half it's current carrying capacity and you'll never know by looks, more shovel and shovel related parts like the starting systems suffer from bad cables and grounds than you might suspect. Last things anyone ever looks at, they usually find the issues after throwing parts and a lot of time at it and not fixing the problem. Battery issues can traced right back to wiring issues more times than not. I'm the guy all the old beater bikes find their way to after their backyard buddies screw it up for them or the all the shops have chased their broke asses off.

My 82 FXR was a constant pain in the *** for battery problems till I redid all the heavy cables and grounding points, old evos had some of the same problems.

 

agree