Need help badly Im the proud owner of a 1999 BigDog Bulldog with a 107 s&s engine I recently had to replace the starter again

Ricky Seevers

Ricky Seevers

New Member
I had to replace my starter but the one that was on my bike had a push rod to engage the starter but my new one doesnt i have a start button but apparently its not hooked up because when i push it i get nothing so my question is this"Can i wire it to work and secondly how to do it im lost when it comes to wiring PLease Help Me
 
FrankBDPS

FrankBDPS

Well-Known Member
I am answering you're question because you are a Proud Owner and not some new Big Dog owner who is ranting about his bike.

The push button you are referring to is commonly known as a slam button. What it does is allows a rider to use it to engage the starter contacts manually. If you still have you're old starter you should be able to remove that rear housing with the button in it and install it on you're new starter. If you need a new one they are avaliable from vendors on this site. Wildsteedworx may have them.

Some of us have them to use in a situation where the starter button on the handle bars may fail or the wiring has gone bad. Some guys like you're previous owner install them and never fix the problem in the start circuit.

On you're bike if the origional wiring is intact there would be a small green wire Some place down there close to the starter. That is you're starting point if you can find it. That is the wire that would come from the starter relay that is operated by the starter button on the handle bar. Check to see if you have power on that green wire. If you do hook it up to the small terminal on the starter solenoid and see what happens. If it still doesn't work you will need to trouble shoot that circuit out.

Do not get pissed off at the bike. Take you're time and learn about it. Big Dogs are great bikes but they are high performance vehicles that take some extra care and work. Educate yourself here on this forum. There is a lot of knowledge here. Years and years of experience.

And by all means don't take you're bike to a Harley shop. Big Dogs are not you're run of the mill Harley and most shops don't want to see them. Find a well known indepent repair shop.

Post some pics of you're Bulldog. They are a rare breed and we love pics on this forum. Again proud owner take you're time and figure it out. Good luck.

Frank
 
nvcollins

nvcollins

'08 Mastiff
Welcome from Southwestern Virginia. Great advise. You came to the right place for advise.

Sent from my SM-A426U using Tapatalk
 
Mikeinjersey

Mikeinjersey

Well-Known Member
Ricky Seevers said:
I had to replace my starter but the one that was on my bike had a push rod to engage the starter but my new one doesnt i have a start button but apparently its not hooked up because when i push it i get nothing so my question is this"Can i wire it to work and secondly how to do it im lost when it comes to wiring PLease Help Me
Click to expand...
You have a few of options. First and easiest is to take the slam button off the old starter and install it on the new one. That is provided it's the same size. HDM or WSW can help with that. Yes, you can wire it to work by installing a momentary on switch between the battery and the solenoid to use as a start button. After that you would need to troubleshoot the starting system on your bike and Frank has you well on the way to checking it out. Good Luck !
 
Jerome Yee

Jerome Yee

Member
Ricky Seevers said:
I had to replace my starter but the one that was on my bike had a push rod to engage the starter but my new one doesnt i have a start button but apparently its not hooked up because when i push it i get nothing so my question is this"Can i wire it to work and secondly how to do it im lost when it comes to wiring PLease Help Me
Click to expand...
What's up Ricky what part of Calif you staying, I'm in northern California up in the Bay area , know of a couple good shops, Harley won't touch Big Dogs up here and that's fine with me over priced any way.. Good luck Brother
 
SCC007

SCC007

Active Member
Welcome from Mississippi!

Very true, finding a mechanic worth their salt is getting harder. Just like what was previously expressed, I took my HD into the shop and they screwed up a maintenance all while being told by the "kid" working that if the computer doesn't tell him what's wrong he didn't really know where to start.
Sadly I have found a lot of the stuff that I need up needing to fix on older bikes (or cars/trucks/etc for that matter) is people's hack jobs to get it working and not fixing it right the first time...as it sounds like what you might be running into.

As several have said, spend your time and get to know the bike. There should be some wiring diagrams available and if i am not mistaken the older dogs shared a lot of HD parts. I have found a lot of bikes have stuff like a faulty wire or connection (or something simple like the start button had gone bad) and people just bypass it, I would start there. If you can either print out or take the screen out to the bike and start tracing wires. I usually work from the battery box out toward the controls and the starter. It might be necessary to take the tank off and trace where the wires go through the tube up towards the handle bars (where I find most of the problems). Just my 2c.
 
FrankBDPS

FrankBDPS

Well-Known Member
knothead said:
You nailed it
Click to expand...
Thanks. You know I am not saying there is anything wrong with the new stuff when it works. The cars,trucks and heavy equipment we have now are really for the most part good stuff and I sure don't mean to insult any good techies that can and do fix issues. I know I could not do what they do but I am 69 years old and did not need to learn the new stuff. The newest vehicle I own is a 2002 Tahoe that the only thing I have done is tires,brakes and oil changes.

I am getting way way off topic. I hope this guy gets his bike going

Can some one post up a wiring diagram link for him? I don't have one that new.

Ride safely guys.
 
Rainer Schaab

Rainer Schaab

New Member
FrankBDPS said:
I am answering you're question because you are a Proud Owner and not some new Big Dog owner who is ranting about his bike.

The push button you are referring to is commonly known as a slam button. What it does is allows a rider to use it to engage the starter contacts manually. If you still have you're old starter you should be able to remove that rear housing with the button in it and install it on you're new starter. If you need a new one they are avaliable from vendors on this site. Wildsteedworx may have them.

Some of us have them to use in a situation where the starter button on the handle bars may fail or the wiring has gone bad. Some guys like you're previous owner install them and never fix the problem in the start circuit.

On you're bike if the origional wiring is intact there would be a small green wire Some place down there close to the starter. That is you're starting point if you can find it. That is the wire that would come from the starter relay that is operated by the starter button on the handle bar. Check to see if you have power on that green wire. If you do hook it up to the small terminal on the starter solenoid and see what happens. If it still doesn't work you will need to trouble shoot that circuit out.

Do not get pissed off at the bike. Take you're time and learn about it. Big Dogs are great bikes but they are high performance vehicles that take some extra care and work. Educate yourself here on this forum. There is a lot of knowledge here. Years and years of experience.

And by all means don't take you're bike to a Harley shop. Big Dogs are not you're run of the mill Harley and most shops don't want to see them. Find a well known indepent repair shop.

Post some pics of you're Bulldog. They are a rare breed and we love pics on this forum. Again proud owner take you're time and figure it out. Good luck.

Frank
Click to expand...
Just my 50cents of lessons learned. My green Wire to the starter broke and I was too lazy to fix it since it was in the middle of the good weather riding season. So I used the slam button at the starter which I installed a couple of Years ago for a couple of months. Finally the starter burned. I guess the reason was that I have the 117 cui engine and I never pressed one of the decompression valves at the cylinder head during hitting the slam button. These ones are electrically opened while operating the starter with the electrical button. I bought a new starter from Curtis, fixed tha green wire and all is good. Lessons learned for me: Use the slam button in exceptional cases only (or with manually pressing at least one of the decomp valves) , and get things properly repaired when out of order. There is a reason why they were set up like this. :)
 
V

VonDamage

Member
FrankBDPS said:
Thanks. You know I am not saying there is anything wrong with the new stuff when it works. The cars,trucks and heavy equipment we have now are really for the most part good stuff and I sure don't mean to insult any good techies that can and do fix issues. I know I could not do what they do but I am 69 years old and did not need to learn the new stuff. The newest vehicle I own is a 2002 Tahoe that the only thing I have done is tires,brakes and oil changes.

I am getting way way off topic. I hope this guy gets his bike going

Can some one post up a wiring diagram link for him? I don't have one that new.

Ride safely guys.
Click to expand...
FrankDPPS just bought two mastiffs one 2001 with disc brake on the drive belt sprocket one 2006 mastiff 01 has 107 the 06 has 117 I’m 68 so I going to need the help of you guys excited about this bikes new batteries coming Monday fresh 20 50 oil and a highlighter k&n 107C what ya think?
 
Mikeinjersey

Mikeinjersey

Well-Known Member
Welcome form NJ VonDamage.

Go to the Introduction forum and say hello, you will get more people welcoming you. Since your bikes are new to you give some consideration to fresh trans and primary oil as well.
 
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