Top 10 1979 Harley Davidson XLH 1000 Sportster Questions & Answers

the post should be the same as an original. The wires should be green and tan. Green wire goes to the post towards the front wheel and the tan to the post nearest the engine. Don't forget to "polarize" the generator before starting. procedure is in the service manual. Momentarily short between the battery positive post and the field terminal.

the circuit breakers - rectangular boxes near the battery there is a 40amp one which receives the copper strap from the battery and has twowires leaving it. One is to the IGN BATT connection and the other isusually red an goes to the Solid State regulator

The 30 amp circuit breaker has two wire terminals. One is from thecopper strap of the 40 amp circuit breaker and the other feeds thestarter relay(#30 in the FM schematic).
Example 1:
On the left side of the FM wire diagram for 85-85 XLH, under the words"Upper Fork Bracket" is a connector that is inside the headlite bucket.On the right half, top near corner, two holes are joined together by aline. That line represents one of those connectors.

Below it there is a single hole, then below that there is a vertical set of 3 joined together by a connector.

Example 2:
above the left handlebar is the in-headlite connector for all theorange wires. Orange wires always have 12 volts once the key is on.Note the right half of the connector - a vertical group of three andanother of two, using connectors.

Example 3:
above the start relay, the rear lights connector, a vertical group of three.


Here is a link to your manual:

http://www.bikebandit.com/harley-davidson-motorcycle-xl-1984/o/m1698

To remove the starter motor from you Ironhead, look at the rear of the starter motor. There are two "nuts" holding the end cap on. These are not actually nut but very long bolts. By removing these two bolts, you can pull the starter out of the starter drive housing.

But, the long bolts also hold the starter together. You have need to be careful when you take the starter out as it will fall into four pieces. The front bearing plate, the armature, the field windings, and the end plate with the brushed on it. If you're not familiar with fooing with starters, the brush plate can be confusing to get back on the end of the starter.

The starter on your '76 Sporty should be the Hitachi type starter.

To adjust the valves on your Ironhead Sportster, first collapse all the pushrod tubes, remove the spark plugs, and get the rear wheel off the ground. Put the transmission in fourth gear. Now, use the rear wheel to turn the engine.

To adjust the valves, bring the front cylinder to Top Dead Center. Use a common plastic drinking straw down in the spark plug hole to make sure the piston is at Top Center. Make sure both tappets for the front cylinder are all the way down. Now, loosen the lock nut slightly and turn the adjuster to make the tappet longer. You want to make it just long enough so that you can't turn it with your fingers. Gradually back down on the tappet until you can turn the pushrod with your fingers. Lock the locknut down when done. Now do the other tappet.

Once you've done the front cylinder, turn the engine using the rear wheel until the rear piston comes to Top Center. Always turn the engine in the normal direction of rotation. Adjust the two tappet the same way as you did the front cylinder tappets.

When finished, put the transmission in neutral, lower the rear wheel, put the plugs back in, and close up the pushrod tubes.

These tappets set to Zero Backlash, none. Therefore this must be done on a completely cold engine. When the engine starts up and as it warms up, the cylinders and head "grow" due to the heat expansion properties of the metal. As they grow, you pick up valve lash and the valves will clatter a bit. This is where the old saying came from, "You can tell it's a Harley from a mile away by the way the engine sounds. You can tell it's an Ironhead from a half mile away from the valve clatter". If you get the valves too tight, when the weather cools down in the winter, you could wind up with a valve standing open just enough to make the bike impossible to start due to low starting compression. It's better to have the valves a bit loose and have them clatter than have them too tight making the engine difficult to start.

Good Luck,
Steve

I can help you with the wiring diagram but it will be the complete diagram. I have never seen just a turn signal only type wiring diagram. But, there's nothing to a '74 model Ironhead turn signal system.

All the wires for the system were gray but had these little "colored rubber bands" on the ends of the wires near the signal lights. The violet bands were for the left side and the brown bands were for the right side turn signals

Now, I cannot send the wiring diagram through this forum as it will not allow for an attachment. If you will contact me directly, I'll send you a wiring diagram as a jpeg attachment via e-mail. My address is [email protected].

Good luck
Steve

It sounds like your sensor in the timer cavity on the right side of the engine is bad. Disconnect the blue wire from the coil. Take a spark plug out of the engine, put it back in the spark plug wire, and lay it on the head. Turn the switch on and momentarily touch the blue wire to the coil. When you take the wire off of the coil, you should see a spark at the plug. The purpose of the sensor in the timer cavity is to stop the flow of current in the coil and initiate a spark.

Good Luck
STeve

Torque values for the cylinders and rocker box on a 1979 XLH 1000 Ironhead Sportster are as follows.

Cylinder base torque - 25-35 foot pounds.
Cylinder head torque - 55 -65 foot pounds
Rocker box torque - 14 -19 foot pounds

If your bike is NOT the bike listed above, repost and tell me the year model of your bike.

Good Luck
Steve

The original wires, one blue and one white, were with the points ignition. The white wire should be the "Hot" wire. Now, look at your wiring diagram. The two white wires should go together to one side of the coil and the blue to the other. There is no positive or negative side of the coil, just two small primary winding terminals. Make sure the white wire from the ignition system is the "hot" or power wire for 12 volts. If you connect the ignition unit up backwards, it will damage it. To make sure the white wire on the bike is the hot wire, simply turn the ignition switch on and check this wire with a test light or volt meter. It should show battery voltage on it. That should be your setup, two white wires on one end of the coil and a blue wire on the other.

Good Luck
Steve

I have never heard of any aftermarket manufacturers making a chrome generator. Look closely and see if the generator has a chrome cover over it. Make sure you are touching the "A" or armature terminal with the jumper wire from the postive battery post. The "A" terminal should have two tan colored wires going to it with a green wire going to the "F" terminal. Usually, you see a small spark but you may not. Start the engine and bring it to a high idle. Check the voltage at the battery with the engine running at high idle. You should be reading between 14 and 15 volts at the battery. If not, your battery will not stay charged. Have checked the brushes in the generator to make sure they are not worn out? To test the Maximum output of the generator, disconnect the wires from the "A" and the "F" terminals. Set your volt meter to read DC volts on the 50 volts or greater scale. Connect the positive voltmeter lead to the "A" terminal and the negative lead to ground. Start the engine and idle at 2000 rpms. MOMENTARILY connect a jumper lead from ground to the "F" terminal of the generator. Your voltmeter should read 25-30 volts DC. If you do not read this voltage, you need to check the generator for worn brushes, a shorted armature or field winding.

Good Luck
Steve

The pattern you follow is a criss cross pattern & I believe it is 40 foot pounds