I bought a1978 FLH thru Ebay about 5 years ago. It had about 62.000 miles, first issue was the power switch was installed backwards. And the electrical was totally messed up. With lots of blue wire tags installed. I fixed that. And have put about 10.000 miles on the bike. First new issue was I would ride about 15 minutes and the bike would shut down. This was in the summer. In cooler temps say 50 degrees and lower it would run for 20 to 25 minutes and shut down. I changed all the series breakers. Because I felt it was a temp issue. It has about 28 lights it’s a dresser. Old school! I also checked and found a few issues. My battery had a draw of 1/2 amp after the bike was shut down. And I felt I found that draw thru the Start solenoid. I’ve bought four battery’s so far. Even tho I had a battery tender hooked up and charged thru a timer for 8 hours in the evening hours.

The last time I rode the bike it had a loud rubbing noise. Coming from the clutch, I removed the outer and inner primary, lots of grease and dirt, my transmission out bearing was leaking. It’s a four speed And my drive chain sprocket was loose the drive chain rubbing on my inner primary casting. I am repairing and cleaning and replacing all the hoses. Chainged the sprocket. New seals. Th motor seal looks good. It has a after market harmonic balancer on the main drive sprocket. And the main drive Chain has little wear. Could this have caused my Electrical issue.? I know it sounds crazy but I’ve been totally spoofed by this. Any Ideas or thoughts are welcomeAJ

 

I haven't worked on a shovel head since 1989. That seems like another lifetime ago. So my memory won't help you in terms of specifics... but these things come to mind....

Just based on your description, seems like electrical to me...

You "felt" you found the 1/2amp draw... Did you recheck? Is it still there?

Have you measured the stator output?

Have you checked the charging voltage?

With "old school" 28 lights, that can be quite a draw... could you be overloading the charging circuit?

With "old school" 28 lights, that has to be numerous connections that can get weak, and have issues/shorts from vibration over time.

Sorry I can't offer better suggestions, but hope I may have offered something you might have overlooked..

Good luck and keep us posted..

 

There is a shovel head section in this forum. You would be better off over there, guys with lots experience.

 

You can ask a modertor to move your post to the Shovelhead section.

Paul