Just thought I would share my issue with my starter.

One day trying to start the motorcycle I heard the starter turning and it sounded like it was just spinning and finally engaged and the bike cranked. It would do this a few times until the bike would not crank at all. I would just hear the starter spinning.
I thought maybe the solenoid was bad and went ahead and rebuilt it. The copper connections were pitted so I thought I had it.
Put the starter back in and it was doing the same thing. Finally decided to break the starter completely down and found the starter idler gear had a broken tooth on it. Finally found an oem part number of 31525-90 and from other forums HD discontinued this part. So now I'm on the hunt for this gear. If anyone else was having issues with their starter I hope this thread helps.

 

Have you actually checked with the dealer to make sure the pat yu need is no longer avilable , maybe the part number you have has been updated and changed, if not available there sure they are available through aftermarket sources.

 

I called the dealer today and the PN is correct and he "checked" other dealers for it and no one has it. The guy at the dealer said the part is discontinued and you have to buy the whole starter, go figure! I did find one on EBay and it was only marked up by $10. So hopefully it will work and nothing else is wrong. Thanks for the reply Bob.

 

Found the idler gear on ebay and they sent it to the wrong person and that person will not send it back. Could not find the gear anywhere. Thought about buying a used starter, I would be putting the same piece of junk gear back in there. So I found a high torque starter for 150 and put that on the bike. Man what a headache.