Starter motor just spins and does not engage?
 

Didn't spend much time with it at all but hit the start button and nothing but the electric starter motor spinning noise. Have not done much homework on it yet but in an old school description, the bendix unit isn't working. Has been starting kinda hard on cold starts lately (live in WI). Does have a FM 107 with Woods 555 cams and no compression releases. Any thoughts or advise is much appreciated.
Kris

Battery condition? Get it load tested if possible. Check the earth leads have a good and clean ground. Sometimes the lead corrodes under the pvc coating.

If the battery and leads are good, then I'd suspect the solenoid or the starter clutch.

Starter clutch. Go with the All Balls.

Your 'bendix' assumption sounds most likely.

If battery voltage is low, the starter will not spin fast enough for the the starter drive to engage.

Charge your battery.
Check the ground cable connection that goes tot he frame and make sure its clean.
After its charged Get a Load tester and load test the battery.
I would disconnect the cable.
Make sure you have good voltage and good connections.

If you have to get a battery.
get a Glass Matt.

Hey guys thanks for the responses and I'm sorry for the delay voltage was up motor just spins I'm guessing it's the Bendix also. I'm working out of town this week but will dig into it more on Friday. Thanks again

If you take the starter apart there is a one way clutch or a Sprag clutch some call it a starter clutch. It allows the motor to start and run at a higher speed than that little starter motor can turn. Anyhow when we start adding big cams and more compression they have to handle more drag to turn the motor and tend to have short lives. A replacemnet runs about $60 and is fairly easy to put in. The worst part about it is on many of our bikes you need to pull the primary cover to remove the bolt at the end of the starter to remove it.

Might be a starter Clutch.

:icon_that:

Or if you want the best:
www.spraggusa.com

New starter clutch assembly ordered and on the way. I will hope to get it done this weekend, but will advise on results. Again thanks to all who shared input
Kris

Pull the solinoid cover off, make sure the bikes in neutral, tuen ign on and push the plunger with your finger. You can also hit the start button and watch it nit engage the bendix. By pushing it manually it should start.

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Likely cause would be stater issue (bad starter drive/clutch & or solenoid) , issue with low battery voltage (for whatever the reason) or maybe even issues with both those items.

I have seen the above issues cause the starter to spin but not engage the ring gear to spin the motor over so chk those things out.

Scott

If the starter clutch is slipping, it does not matter if you manually push the solenoid plunger, or electrically push the plunger.

The starter motor will spin but the engine will not.

Update. The all balls did the trick. Fires right up now. Sorry took so long but it's snowmobile season here. A huge thanks to all. SBates is always a reliable source of GREAT GUIDANCE!!!
Kris

Starter free spins after bike is heated up ?
 

Hello , I have a 2004 Road king classic and I recently went on about a 100 mile road trip and when I stopped to get gas when I went to start it the starter just spun and this happened about 3-4 times before finally grabbing and starting the bike , today I went out and on the first try it started right up but I let it warm up and shut it off and then it did it again ( eventually grabbing and starting ) so I let it cool down and went out and tried it and again it started first try but after warming up and shutting it off it would just free spin ? Can anyone please point me in the right direction as to what would cause this ? Thank you

It sounds like your pull in coil contacts are failing. When you push start 2 things happen, the starter spins and the solenoid has an arm the moves the pinion into the flywheel teeth to spin motor. If you were to pull off the 3 screws ond remove the solenoid cover, you will see a plate that is the contact. It most likeis getting pitted and worn in spots, those spots are preventing the clutch from engaging. You could try snd clean the contacts but it will do it again next time the plate rotates. If you do go inside this cover BE VERY CAREFUL if the battery is hooked up. If you manually push the plunger, the motor will try and start, regardless if its in gear or not.

Awesome , thank you for the advice , I may just spend $180 on a new starter