Starter clutch

Energy One

BigDogRick

Well-Known Member
Since I seem to be on a roll here, learning something I should have known over a decade ago: here's a heads up to my fellow vintage owners. I am on my third starter having fought with the OEM for six years after it was seven years old. Every mechanic I spoke with dissuaded me from replacing the starter with the statement that my old starter was some kind of gem from antiquity not replaceable by any contemporary replacement. I would reply, "you are not being stranded in the high desert a couple hundred miles from civilization and water with your smug old school engineering confidence. If the starter is fine then why am I weazing like a 90 year old at 7000+ feet, gasping for oxygen because my fabulous old school starter won't start my bike as I push start it on some remote 2% downhill grade if I am lucky enough to be near one?" They would, of course just stare at me. Seriously ... at least a dozen mechanics.
 

BigDogRick

Well-Known Member
Then I met a bold and adventurous mechanic who was willing to violate some old school mechanics code and replace my starter ... behold... it started! BUT I must admit under protest. That was in 2011 ... when my bike was eleven years old! Then I replaced it again in 2015 with similar marginal success. I took to blaming my rebuild and rebore of my 107" to an approximately 111" "square" motor because of its extraordinary compression on my old S&S with no built-in holes in the heads for compression releases. That got me by for a few years and I simply kept a rapid charger handy as a cold start after a few weeks always took at least two full battery charges to cold start.
 

BigDogRick

Well-Known Member
Then this past year happened. With the help of Mr. Wright and others I had a full scale electrical meltdown and patiently replaced every electrical/electronic component and inch of wiring on my bike and embarked on a new day: Old School Re-wire of my bike. I thought I had died and gone to biker heaven with the way my bike ran ... all the way to Lake Havasu City a month or so ago. While I was there .. my third starter went out ... I thought. I took it into a local V-Twin shop ... Desert Thunder Motorcycle Shop ... and they diagnosed a problem I had no clue I could have: a bad starter clutch. I extended my stay at my luxurious primitive campsite on Lake Havasu in my tent for four days as I waited for a heavy duty starter clutch to be delivered to the Arizona/California state line and installed in my aging bike. And... you guessed it ... my bike how starts on a touch of the start switch with no compression seize, no click, no lug, no issue like it's 2002 again!
 

BigDogRick

Well-Known Member
I feel compelled to share this with any brother who is looking over the counter at some shop manger that is brazenly asserting that there is no starter to be bought that is as good as the one already in your bike. They might actually be right and the problem may not be your starter at all. I don't think mine was for over a decade.
 

Th3InfamousI

Administrator
Staff member
Should just be a stock Harley drive clutch.

The drive clutch will go and you will still here it trying to spin. That happened to Rodger actually out in AZ we went to a shop and in and out in like 4-5 hrs.

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BigDogRick

Well-Known Member
There are a couple out there that boast "heavy duty" as an upgrade from the stock and Desert Cycle was pretty adamant that the $49 version was not what I wanted. I will check with Randy at Desert Cycle to see which one they got. I asked them to itemize parts on the receipt and they did but I see they used their own in-house part numbers. Here are two that I found that match the description they used on my parts list (just for reference). Pricing range is a bit wide.

https://www.amazon.com/Terry-Components-Starter-Slugger-Starters/dp/B000GUWNRC

https://www.amazon.com/All-Balls-79-2101-Starter-Assembly/dp/B000GZQNBO
 

john sachs

Well-Known Member
If you have a shop in your area that rebuilds starters, take your starter there. They may have a starter clutch that is the same as what's in your starter.
Harley Davidson starter clutches are from Toyota's. About $25.00 for a heavier duty one that Harley sells. ;)
John
 

SKOGDOG

One of the old ones.
Should just be a stock Harley drive clutch.

The drive clutch will go and you will still here it trying to spin. That happened to Rodger actually out in AZ we went to a shop and in and out in like 4-5 hrs.

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Eric, you'll recall we actually had lunch with (Big Dog) Rick on that day!! Skunk Works repaired Roger's bike.
 

glenn01

New Member
Then this past year happened. With the help of Mr. Wright and others I had a full scale electrical meltdown and patiently replaced every electrical/electronic component and inch of wiring on my bike and embarked on a new day: Old School Re-wire of my bike. I thought I had died and gone to biker heaven with the way my bike ran ... all the way to Lake Havasu City a month or so ago. While I was there .. my third starter went out ... I thought. I took it into a local V-Twin shop ... Desert Thunder Motorcycle Shop ... and they diagnosed a problem I had no clue I could have: a bad starter clutch. I extended my stay at my luxurious primitive campsite on Lake Havasu in my tent for four days as I waited for a heavy duty starter clutch to be delivered to the Arizona/California state line and installed in my aging bike. And... you guessed it ... my bike how starts on a touch of the start switch with no compression seize, no click, no lug, no issue like it's 2002 again!

Hi I have a 2002 bulldog. .... the part numbers you gave will work for this correct ?
Thanks
 

BigDogRick

Well-Known Member
Hi I have a 2002 bulldog. .... the part numbers you gave will work for this correct ?
Thanks
I did not provide a part number. I did provide two sources of so-called universal fit that seem to apply to our evo style bikes. My replacement was installed by a shop on the road and the part number they supplied is an in-house inventory number not a mfr part number. I assume you are doing this yourself - if so, I would verify compatibility with the starter on your bike. As old as it is, it may not be the original.


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