I just bought a 1983 FLH shovel head. It will kick start however the starter seems to not engage. The starter continues to spin and sometimes it will continue to spin until I remove the battery cable. The battery is fully charged replaced the solenoid and relay. After reading previous posting, it sounds like this maybe a common problem. At this point I don’t know if it is the starter or something else. I wanted to check with others that might be know before I remove the starter and replace it.

 

Check your ground's & cable's . What happens to get the effects you described is too heavy an amperage draw and it welds the contacts in the solenoid , usually caused by dirty or loose grounds & cables . Second thing that can get you is the brushes are gone on in the starter , that'll cause the same type symptoms , like a heavy dragging then the stuck on thing .

Good luck and keep us posted please , lots of good know how in here for the old iron .

 

I had the same issues with my 84 FLH. When I bought it there was a small set of vise grips on one of the battery posts for a quick disconnect. I tried everything, new starter, new solenoid, new cables and settled for a lever action solenoid from J & P Cycles. Problem solved!