'10 RK has new SE comp. installed. When starting warm there is a very loud bang in the middle of the cranking cycle unless I leave the bike in gear to start than it is normal. Your thoughts ,please. Thanks

 

I also get this on my '10 Ultra with stock compensator occasionally on a warm start. However I have never tried starting it in gear. My first HD so I just thought it was one of those things they did. Subscribed!

 

Do not start it in gear, it is not recommended and you are putting an addition strain on the started.

 

I understand that there is some clutch friction so I depress the clutch lever a few times and rock the bike to break the discs apart but the "clunk" is extremely loud and sounds as if something is going to break. It might just be the comp winding up to the end but it sounds terrible.

 

My 09 FLHX does the same when warm. Very very loud bang but only when worn. Hard to explain to the dealer as its intermittent.

 

Dealer replaced the stock compensator yesterday with an SE compensator. Apparently its a "kit" now because of how many have been replaced. Made a huge difference in the starting sound. So far, so good.

 

My '10 RK only has 7k miles on it and it is a new SE comp. Guess I'll yank it apart when the snow flies. Heard something about heavier springs , guess I'll look into that because it doesn't make any noise if I start it in gear with the additional drag, so maybe a little more tension on the comp will fix it.

 

My buddy had that problem on his e glide. Dealer told him it was the starter. We replaced the starter clutch and it fixed the issue.

 

My experience is that the old comp makes a single loud bang when it bottoms out, like hitting the engine with a hammer. With all of the talk about "scissoring" the crank shaft I changed to the SE comp early on. The failure of the starter clutch usually sounds like a grinding noise, most think it is the starter gear not meshing with the ring gear on the clutch basket until they see that the teeth on both are undamaged. I have never heard anyone describe the starter drive failure as a single noise like a bang, but I suppose it is possible. I had to change both the compensator and the starter drive. I figure the bottoming of the original compensator hammered the starter drive to an early failure. I can't imagine what would make the bang sound with the SE comp installed unless one of conical springs has failed leaving the comp to bottom out like the earlier design. If that happened, I would think that having chunks of spring steel floating around in the primary case would cause other problems.

 

How long has the s/e comp been in there??.. perhaps the bolt has backed out (mine did) somewhat reducing the spring preload??