Intermittent Starter Clutch

Anybody ever experienced that? Whenever I have had one go out, it was done for.

I have a friend with an 01 Superglide that was having starting issues. After throwing a few parts (solenoid and battery) at it for a while, he mentioned it to me one day. From his description it sounded like the starter clutch was toast, except he said he could get it to eventually start.

I went by his house to see, and he gave me a demo. He went to start the bike, expecting it to act like he had described. But it cranked and fired off perfectly. So much for his problem.

But that was it. We shut it down and tried again and this time all we got was that starter whirring noise. After several tries, we bypassed the bike's electrical system and used the pushbutton on the solenoid. Same results. I tried putting it in gear to bump the ring gear to a different position in case there was some damaged or missing teeth that could be the cause. Still the same. It looks like it is officially dead now.

I don't know how long he has been having the problem, but it sounds like it was going on for a while. He doesn't want to just replace the clutch and plans to go for a whole new starter. He has another bike, a newer Road Glide, but that is getting to be a little too big for him. He has one foot firmly into his 80s. Time for some disassembly.

I checked to make sure the starter was firmly attached to the inner primary, so that leaves that out. Anybody have any other ideas? I'm all out.