Today when starting my 2007 Road King with 22,000 miles I heard a grinding sound, then it started up. Sounded pretty nasty. Any ideas? Thanks in advance.

 

Weak battery or bad connections would be the first place to check. If that's all good the starter clutch could be going bad.

 

Sounded Pretty nasty. Ill check the battery and connections tonight. If its the starter clutch, I need to replace the entire starter? Thanks

 

No way Jose! just the starter clutch, they are a lot cheaper than the whole starter. If you cant get one from Harley get an aftermarket one.

 

If its the starter drive, its not long for this earth. Mine died pretty quickly after it acted up the first time...like I got 2 or 3 more starts, then ZIIINNGG all you hear is the starter motor spinning. Its a one-way clutch, when it fails, it just spins and does nothing. If memory serves you'll need a Primary cover gasket also.

i put one of these in:
Been working good for a year now. My bike will sometimes pop and hammer back against the starter, which took the first one out. (2 actually..I put a crappy starter in it after the first one failed, my bike ate that one in a week) Buy once, cry once.

 

Could be the compensator. Mine sounded terrible just in start up. Went to SE been problem free for 2 years ...

 

This^^^. Same thing on my 09

 

I's hard to tell. I thought my starter clutch was going out, but someone told me I was letting off the starter to early. Sure nuff, I haven't had a problem since. I'm so use to my 2014 Limited firing right up that I was starting my 07 the same way. I just needed to hold the starter in a micro thump longer to make sure the engine was turning on it's own. I've own 8 Harleys and this is the first with this personality of starting.

I would check the battery first.

Beary

 

Thank You all, My buddy coming this weekend and take a look with me. I hate to bring to HD, always fell like I'm being robbed.