I've never seen a Sportster starter motor that looks like that, this is mine, and I have three, one on a Sportster, this one and just the body of one.I have been looking at Harley ring gears and starters and wondering if the bendix hangs down below the starter motor enough that the bendix gear will mesh while the starter motor itself will clear my duel adjuster setup for the gearbox. The top lug on the gearbox might be tilted forward far enough to make room. If all I have to do is notch out the left engine plate and inner primary plate, that would be heavenly. When and if you have time, can you tell me what the diameter is of the ring gear and if you can…roughly what’s the distance between the centre of the bendix and the underside of the starter motor. Definitely no rush… just if you happen to have them on the bench at some point. Please and thank you.
Edit… I just looked at a photo of the Sportster starter and the bendix housing is a lot longer that what I thought. I need something like this one, except opposite rotation.
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The bendix is 30mm diameter, the locating boss is 50mm diameter and the solenoid body outer is 35mm from the centre of the bendix.
The body is 115mm from mounting face to the end of the cover plate bolt, the ring gear is 200mm OD and 165mm ID, the ring gear is not cheap or easy to find as they are never 2nd hand.
You can get a DENSO starter similar for a Toyota Yaris etc part DSN 926, there are probably others cheaper.
With a belt drive you don't need gearbox adjustment if you set it right to begin with, I have 3 bikes with tens of thousands of miles on each and never had to adjust any of the belts, so the box can be mounted rigid and no provision for adjustment needed.
This is my Sportster starter motor, careful attention needs to be paid to where the mounting lugs and electrical connections will end up.
I bought mine off ebay, you need the 1981 and later, I paid £20 for the one with no motor, £72 and £103 for the good complete ones.
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