here's the scenario - the bike is an '05 flht 95", 37G cams about 9.7(ish), stock ignition, starter and battery. the motor was turning over slower and slower. i thought it was the battery and i put it on my trickle charger and it charged up in about half an hour. then last night at work i went to leave and hit the starter button and all i hear is a buzz. i can hear the starter jackshaft kicking out i think, but then it just kind of buzzes or whirrs and doesn't engage the engine at all. i had the battery tested at autozone and it tested good (under a 300 cca load). [/align][/align]i really hate electrical crap, so i would appreciate any help pointing me in the right direction here.[/align][/align]tia[/align]jason [/align]

 

Its the clutch (sometimes called a Bendix) inside the starter.....just had the same thing happen to me....you can replace just the clutch (not hard at all) or the stealer might tell ya you need a starter.....cost me like $50 to do it myself.

 

I had a similiar problem. My bike would start, but real slowly. I alway use a battery tender and the battery always showed charged, so I thought it couldn't be the battery. Came back from a 4 day ride and decided to buy a new battery just in case. It was the battery. If you can, borrow a battery from a friend and see if the problem still exists.

 

When having electrical issues of any kind always check your grounds. Proper grounding is the most overlooked problem will cause poor charge, intermitten operation, slow starter cranking, etc. Just the best place to start, frequently the grounding issue is often corrected when a person starts replacing parts giving the false notion the part was faulty.
Slightly off subject but cwilks your aviator mezzmorizes me and I can see them from the other side of the state!!!

 

cwilks - do you have a part # or know where you got the clutch from? and how did you determine that was the problem?

 

If it is a starter clutch issue, I would suggest replacing it with one better than the crummy Taiwanese crap that comes in the stock starter, as well as replacement units from theHD dealership.

I had a motor that was really tuff on starter clutches in my previous RG. I wish I'd known about the better quality units back then.

Look for one from All *****.... http://www.goallballs.com/hd.asp?pag...r_Clutch_Assem

You can get them almost anywhere. They are even in the JP book.

Bart (Shooter64) can get them for ya too, for a better price too!

I also agree with the folks suggesting checking out your gounds. Also check the connector on the green lead on the solenoid ~ make sure the metal connector itself is not opened up and making poor a poor connection with the connector on the solenoid. I just went thru this last weekend... In fact, I had one of the threads adjacent to yours on HTT.

 

phil, i appreciate the part #s. so did yours end up being the clutch or was it a connection? i'm gonna check more thoroughly tonight or tomorrow when i get time, but always looking for a good starting point.

thanks,
jason

 

Mine was the connection this time, but my symptom was different than yours. I would intermittently just make a single "click", which was the solenoid not getting enough current to thoroughly energize & throw out the pinion gear / jack shaft all the way.

I bought a new connector for the inside of the connector at the end of the green wire. I also soldered it on, as well as crimping it.

Just for safe measure (& becuase it was inexpensive) I replaced the starter relay under the seat.

....and, as a failsafe, I bouth a ~$20 endcap for the solenoid that has the push button on it. with that, I can simply push that button and manually engage the pinion gear and the starter motor, regarless of the state of the connectors, relay, starter switch at the throttle housing, etc....

In the past, when I had numerous starter clutches fail (usually after a couple "kick backs"), the starter sounded like it would spin, but nothing would happen with the engine. It was because the one-way (sprag) bearing in the clutch was toasted. The ones All ***** sell have much better one-way bearings and that is why they are better.

 

The same thing happened on my '97 FLSTS. You could here it clicking in, but just a buzzing. I replaced the battery as it was 8 years old, but that didn't fix it. I replaced the clutch and it was good as new.

 

thanks to all you guys. i checked my connections last night and they are good. the battery was fully charged and never dropped below 11 v or so when i hit the starter button, but still just the buzzing sound. i'm gonna order an allballs starter clutch today and go from there!

thanks,
jason