Repair And Fix it

The primary drive on a Harley Davidson Sportster is concealed inside a metal case to prevent any part of your clothing or body from becoming trapped in the rapidly spinning belt while youre riding the bike. If you need to adjust the primary chain, you must remove the cover. There are some discreet little bolts that hold the whole assembly together, which can be difficult to find if you dont know where to look.

Instructions

1

Run the engine for three to five minutes until the temperature starts to rise. This will thin the oil in the primary, allowing it to drain more readily. Place the bike on its side stand and put the container under the primary. Loosen and remove the drain plug from the underside of the primary cover, and drain the oil into the container.

2

Use an Allen wrench to loosen the bolts around the circular Derby cover, which is mounted on the primary cover. The clutchs spring mechanism has to be removed before the rest of primary cover can come off. The mechanism is behind the Derby cover. Remove the uppermost locking nut, which will release the spring underneath. Slide the spring out, which will reveal another locking nut beneath it. Loosen and remove this nut, too. Store both nuts and the spring in a safe place.

3

Work around the outer edge of the primary cover, loosening and removing all of the Allen bolts on the outer perimeter of the cover. Once youve removed the last one, the primary cover should lift off.

On the inside of every ignition coil are two groups of windings which wrap around an iron core. The primary windings have a couple hundred turns around the core, while the secondary windings have turns numbering in the thousands. When problems within an ignition coil are suspected, having information on how to check these windings can be beneficial.

Check Primary

To check the primary windings of an ignition coil, a digital ohmmeter will be needed. The ohmmeters positive and negative test leads will have to be connected to the coils positive and negative terminals. A reading of 0.4 to 2 ohms is normal while a zero reading means the coil has a short in it.

Check Secondary

To check the secondary windings, you will also need a digital ohmmeter. The ohmmeters positive test lead will need to be attached to the coils positive terminal. The ohmmeters other test lead will have to be connected to the coils high voltage output terminal. Normal readings for newer coils is around 6,000 ohms while older ones can have much higher readings.

Warning

When checking for a spark, never take off the coils high voltage wire. Not only can it harm the coil but it can give you a serious electric shock as well.