Any tricks of the trade to jump start my battery? Getting to the positve post was so difficult, I had to cut the top of the plastic bracket that holds the battery in place. Pigtail?

Now I need to replace my battery, why is it so frickin difficult to remove the plastic battery holder?

 

You shouldn't have to "cut" anything to remove a battery. On my 09 Road King the cover needs to be depressed and slid backwards to release the front catch so that it can be lifted off. As far as a quick remedy for a jump, unless you are going to run heavy duty cables permanently to an access point I don't see a quick remedy. My tender came with a set of plug in clamps that you could clamp on to another battery. You wouldn't be able to jump from them because the line is light wire and fused. You might be able to leave it attached to a battery long enough to get enough of a charge from it to allow you to start under your own power but if you draw juice thru it from the other battery during starting you would blow the fuse.

 

If you have to jump start one hook the positive lead to the positive post on the starter and hook the negative to some bare metal on the frame like the floorboard bracket. Had to do this once on my work bike when I left the ignition switch on for a couple of hours, used a jumper box. Way too much trouble to access the battery under the FLHTP seat.

Make sure the power source is not running, battery only. Then you want to charge it on a battery charger, the bike's system is not intended to charge a fully discharged battery.

 

Whatever you do, don't use the pigtail for a battery tender to jump start it. I attempted to boost my wife's bike one day by this method. The wires of the pigtail heated, melted, and subsequently shorted out, causing the battery to short. Smoke rolled, the battery screeched like a long range missle on an inbound target. I was running around trying to get tools to disconnect the battery cables all in a frantic state of mind because the bike was on the patio next to the house. Whew!!!! My wife was screamin at me, the battery was screamin at me, the dogs were chasing me around.....man what a start to the day. From now on I'll remove the battery from the bike and charge it properly.....away from the house..!!!!!

 

plan for the worse...hope for the best...

 

DO NOT EVER CONNECT THE CLIP ON TYPE WIRE EXTENSIONS TO THE PIGTAIL ON YOUR BIKE. I'm talking about a Battery Tender or Jr version, but I would assume that they are all wired the same. That clip on connector, with the clamps that can be attached to a battery is ONLY for use with the tender itself.
It is wired so the hot wire is covered with the rubber at the end connection, and the negative wire is the exposed one. The pigtail on your bike is wired the same, so if you connect this extension to charge your battery from another one, using the method described above, YOU WILL FRY THE WIRES, AND POSSIBLY THE BATTERY!! (see below). I had to go to the barn to doublecheck this, and it is TRUE. Same thing would apply if you tired to connect 2 bikes by their pigtails, you are putting HOT TO GROUND!
I had also though of using the pigtail on the bike with those clip connects to charge my bike from another, so started looking at the wiring, and sure enough, that is how it's wired. Strangly enough, there is no warning from the manufacturer that I can find.
The only way to use that configuration would be to put the RED (pos) clip on the ground post of the donor battery, and the BLACK (neg) clip to the positive post on the battery that you will be charging from. This reverses the reverse in the wires, to make the correct connection.
I still think it is not wise to use the extensions this way, except in an emergency, and certainly not to jump start the bike with, only to charge the bikes battery from another good one (with the donor vehicle shut off)

Also:

Although you might have experienced some heating of the wires (if connected properly), what you did was exactly what I explained above, NOT a good idea, and you are living proof! Did you have to replace the battery? I'm surprised that fuses in the pigtail, and the one in the clip on connector didn't blow????
And why couldn't you just disconnect the clip from the battery, sounds like it cooked for awhile.
I am going to post this information somewhere in the forum, just not sure where yet, probably in general chat, it might get the best traffic there, and people should know of this glitch in the configuration of these products.
Peace

 

Take the battery out and charge it on the bench.

If you jump start a bike which has a dead ( or worse malfunctioning) battery, the charging system will be stressed- perhaps to the point of failure.

a $100 new battery can now become a $400 charging system on top.

Mike

 

Go by your Dealer, the service guys will show you where to jump it to the starter and point out some options for grounding. They told me they do it all the time, even on some "show room bikes".
I had thought about some kind of heavy duty pigtail from a trolling motor set up, just for jumping, but have decided against it. Like others have noted, deltran plug is fused and can't handle many amps.
Service manual covers getting to the battery, it's like they don't want you to get to it, just call them. No point in all that stuff on top of the battery. Not quite as bad as "drive belt replacement", look that one up sometime...

 

I made a set of pigtail to clips for my shovel to jump it bike to bike but I don't think I am brave enough to attempt to jump my FLH with electronic ignition and fuel injection.