Thanks Doc, in my 40 years of riding experience I have learned 1 crucial thing, you have to know your Harley like a U.S. Marine knows his rifle, if you don't your setting your self up for walking a long distance.
I was stranded on my 2018 Road King about 4 weeks ago. It was a very cold day mid 20's if I recall, and I went into a phone store and forgot to switch of the ignition switch! When I came out about 75 minutes later the bike was clicking and making weird noises. It was totally dead. I called a local dealer and asked advice and they told it could be jumped and where the starter stud was. They said if you jump from a car DO NOT leave the car on. I started walking to a parts store to get cables but was able to reach someone that had a portable booster box. They came over and it started right away. one clamp on the stud another clamp on the frame. I put it on a tender when I got home and the battery has been fine ever since. LESSON LEARNED. Happy New Year everybody and thanks for another great vid Doc! I'll have to make one of these just to have in my bag. I was able to reach the starter stud on my bike without any problem.
Yeah, if you jump another car, the way to do it is to hook up the jumper cables, start the donor car and let it run (perhaps revving it to 2000 rpm or so for better charging) for 5 or 10 minutes to help build up the charge in the dead battery. Then TURN OFF the donor car and try to start the car with the dead battery. Otherwise, when the car with the dead battery starts, the sudden voltage spike from its alternator can fry computer components, or at least confuse them into malfunctioning.
I have a Buture jump pack .Good thing about the Buture is it will transfer the power from the Buture to the bike battery .You don't need to jump start , just plug it in to your charge cable ( i put one one my battery for my garage optimate 7 day 24 hour chargerv) And after say 15 / 20 mins just disconnect the Buture and start the bike with nothing connected .it works same in a car except you plug it in the cig lighter socket ( it comes with all the adaptors ) sit in the car for say 15 / 20 mins pull it out of the cig socket and start the car .its a portable jump start come charger .
This is one of my worries. Bc with the newer Harley anyone could just come by and turn the power switch on and walk away ( when you’re not there ) Then you’d return to a dead battery bike.
Hi Doc, great idea. Just one suggestion - your tool touches the starter stud at a single point, and there's a lot of current (100 amps +) flowing through that tiny contact point when you hit the starter button. I would suggest filing a narrow V instead of a circular notch on the end. Now you have two points of contact instead of one, and the narrow V angle increases the contact force. Both features make it less likely to leave a burn mark on the stud. Other than that, an excellent tool to have handy.
Great tip. I made something similar a few years ago. Take snips and cut a v shaped notch at the end instead of using a file to make rounded groove. Thanks!!
That's a fantastic idea. Thank you again Doc Harley for sharing what seems to be a infinite amount of knowledge. Keep em coming. Happy new year to you and yours.
I carry the plain non HD branded Noco booster with me but never used it, now I'll have to look @ my bikes & check. I have saddlebag power ports & SAE to cigarette lighter adapter to charge but I like this better.
What a great idea! I always carry my mobile jump starter around in my car and my bike but always had to take off my seat and so to get to the battery in case I needed it, will make myself one of your jumper arms to have it a lot easier with less working on bike My jump starter had helped a lot of people so far
I have same type jump box as Doc They have harness you can buy goes from box to battery or plus to battery and negative to ground Zip tied along frame under seat area Easy to attach box like you would a battery tender leads Have 09 FXSTC
@@Jonathan-L You'll melt your pigtail or blow its fuse if you try to jump start through the battery tender pigtail. It's for charging the battery, not jump starting. Compare the wires in your battery tender with jumper cables - there's a reason the jumper cables are huge.
Something I haven't thought completely through. I want to get a small jump box but hadn't considered how to jump the bike with it. This is a simple and very usable tool. You have a new subscriber. Thank you Doc. Jake
Nice video. I truly respect and do get solid tips from you Doc. I have been following your sage advice. Your method is simple old school. For me, the new school is to get a copper or aluminum bar instead of the pipe. The newest school is to create an SAE connector for the battery. Alligator's 10-awg extension is also a plus to actually connect to a car battery.
2020 Softail Lowrider S, I just made and ran an insulated jumper cable from the positive on my battery over the top to behind the right side cover and have tie-wrapped it in there. So if needed I just remove the right cover and there it is.
Doc that is a very good idea there, might want to make the curve for the stud slightly smaller but if it works go for it. On my Oldwing, well that is what we call it as it is 30 years old, we can access the positive cable relatively easily. Yes I did exactly as you noted, had to jump it to get it going as had a bad case of HUA, Head Up -ss, and it worked fine. Some people cringed but hey it worked. As for the Damn BMW, either you make an emergency pigtail and install it when you change the battery. Yep again HUA, and on the BMW made a short 10 gauge leads off of the battery to a homemade nylon hookup point. I guess I have to much time on my hands and a shop full of toys. You can't jump it but you can charge it at a rather healthy rate if needed. I use this as a place to slow charge the battery. Change the battery out on a Oil Head BMW 01, ONE, Uno time and you will see just how over-engineered and under-thought-out Germans can be, either that or they are still trying to get even with the Allies for those 2 disagreements some years back.
I carry a small jump starter as well as a set of Yousa Motorcycle Jumper Cables. The clamps on motorcycle jumper cables are small, and fit well on the starter post under that boot. Tons of hassle to try to get under the seat and ECM of many touring models.
@@Richard5873 GOOLOO Upgraded GP3000 Jump Starter 3000A Peak Car Starter (Up to 9L Gas or 7L Diesel Engine) 12V Jump Box Auto Lithium Battery Booster SuperSafe Portable Power Pack with USB Quick Charge, Type-C Port. Best on the market. I have 3 of them. Charges via USB - C phone charger. Cranks just about everything. Power bank also charges phones, powers usb items, too.
Hi Doc, another great vid. I have a 2018 lowrider, got it new. It has 60 g's miles on her. Doc when should I get a new battery, she's runnin great now.
A Harley-Davidson battery could be good up to 4 years. Understand each year after installation the battery will loose a percentage of CCA. First year no problem. Second year a little less by the end of the 3rd year it would be well to start budgeting for a new one. Mileage only counts if you make a lot of very in town short trips or you have a lot of accessories draining the battery. The life of a battery is extended with a smart battery tender….Doc
I have a battery charger/tender that allows me to connect a "pig tail" to the battery posts and are external to ""connect" to the charger. The unit comes with a pair of clamps to "connect" to battery for bench charging. I tried to jump start my Heritage Classic by connecting the pair of clamps so I can connect to jumper cables. I learned that the polarity is reversed in this manner and the clamps polarity should be reversed in this situation. I hope this helps somebody.
Yeah, I just jumped my son's bike a few days, ago. I used an adjustable wrench I had in my bike tool bag. The taped up tubing would have made me feel better about not blowing a fuse.
Great tip! Yes, batteries have a lot of instantaneous energy which must be respected, arc welding. Be careful of wedding ring or necklace. Explosive hydrogen gas and acid all bad. I replaced all my lead acid batteries with lithium Iron batteries. Worth the upgrade especially with increased CCA of lithium batteries and large bore bikes.
So I asked this question to you a few months ago: You should make also a video showing the Harley battery pack that you can use to jump start the bike and how it can be attached to the starter and not the battery. Also note that if you have a Lithium battery, this battery pack is not recommended. Your answer: Good points Eric. In my opinion, I would rather take the time to jump at the battery....Doc I shared this with alot of people including a motor officer and he said he jumps from the starter stud all the time and everyone else does not know why you consider it so dangerous? Thanks for posting the new video.
Hello Eric, I think the idea of having a live buzz bar (the copper pipe) just held in place by hand pressure and a groove is by far the more risky way to jump start your bike than clamping onto battery terminals but do appreciate that access to the battery on many models is a real pain. I have a 2014 Ultra Limited and the term Limited can be applied to battery access.......... ride safe one and all.
@@ianrobertsonRR1 Yes, when I spoke to a Motor Officer he said he uses his jump pack on the starter stud all the time. He said if he had to jump from the battery itself, it would take 20 minutes!
I took the auto train from Sanford, Fl to Washington DC. I remembered to put my bike in transport mode before it was loaded on the train so when I arrived I was good to go. Unfortunately several others had not done the same and had dead batteries. I had a small booster pack and spent the next 2 hours jumping motorcycles.
Great idea! Couple things to improve maybe. You can drill the hole in end then cut half the hole off instead off filing. Try heat shrink tube instead of electrical tape. Also, the current capacity of the copper should be more than adequate so I wouldn’t worry too much about heating up during use
I can’t understand why Harley Davidson doesn’t install a jumpstart pigtail like they do the charging tender pigtail. NOCO makes one, easy, safe and cheap. NOCO makes the HD branded chargers and jumper already. The jumper pigtail plugs right into the jump box. It’s just a fact of life your going to have a dead battery on the road at some time with a machine no matter how well you take care of your battery. Having to disassemble half of the bike to jumpstart it is ridiculous and could be impossible requiring a tow truck instead of a jumpstart. I have the NOCO jump pigtail on both my Softails.
You are talking about the same company that doesn't put heel/toe shifter on $40K bikes. They are probably trying to figure out how to sell big twins with one cylinder and then raising the price for their new weight saving package.
I've been charging with that stud since I got my bike..... Thanks for letting me know I'm not screwing up😅.... I don't jumpstart my bike either.... Charge check and replace if necessary... Thanks doc
This is a very good ideal, and there is room for a little improvement. Like drilling a hole on the end and put a bolt the for the Jumper Clamp, that would make it a little more secured. I took a trip through the mountain (about 140 miles round trip), here earlier this month. After arriving at my destination, I parked my bike for about an hour. Came back to the bike to get on my way back home, and the bike wouldn't start, because the battery was too low of charge, I know this because I have a charging station on my bike that has two UBS ports and one cigar lighter port plus the voltage meter read-out. The volt meter read 11.7 I was parked on a small hill, so I just drift started the bike, after riding for about 40 miles I knew the bike wasn't charging the battery (volt meter reading was down to 8.6), and I was in the only town around for miles that had a Auto-Parts store. I bought the only Battery they had for my bike, the battery (it was listed for my bike) was short from side to side about 2 inch, but it was fully charged (volt meter read 12.4) and got me home (voltage was 11.2 after riding almost 30 miles). I have a 1993 H-D FLHS after getting home I put my bike battery on charge, over night. Next day it was fully charged, I then found the charging problem, the connector from the stator to the voltage regulator was about half-way disconnected. I fix that and put a rap of tape around the unit to help hold in place. I also took the battery back to the store and got a refund(150 bucks), because it was the wrong size battery for my bike (I also fully charged this battery too). So the moral of this story is you can make it home without a charging system working, you just need a Fully Charged Battery to do so.
Hay Doc, that is a great ideal. I made one but I cut a rectangle slot in the end that goes to the starter it is less likely to slip off. Just an update to the original ideal.
Jumping a Harley with a fully discharged battery will blow your stator and voltage regulator as soon as you remove the jumper cable connection from the running bike. The dead battery will look like a short and cause high current flow which will burn the stator up. The voltage regulator usually overheats as well. The proper way is to let the jump vehicle (or box) charge the bikes battery until the bike will start WITHOUT the jumpers connected. This takes time. Either wait and get the dead battery charged enough so it doesn't overload the charging system or just jump it off and blow your charging system. Your choice. Just remember, if the bike can crank in it's own, it's safe to run.
great video......where do you suggest stickin the earth/ground cable so not to mark or get arc marks (coz most of our bikes are chrome or painted?)...thanks..
...But you are endorsing it. I'll make me one tomorrow. Great idea. I would think you would want to hold the tool tightly to the starter stud to ensure a good contact.
Wishing you a fine New Year . I have bungee corded a yard stick across my bars sorta stuck thru control cables and brake line, of course I checked to not obstruct anything. Be well.
Stop using the handlebar switch to shut off the m/c. Use the ignition switch and you will never kill your battery because the lights, etc, were hot/on while you were parked for two hours away from the m/c.
good advice right there. I always thought the handlebar switch was for emergency shut off anyway. That is why they are red in color, so they stand out.
Thinking that if you make a small semi-circle at the end of contact, it may have a little snap on effect onto the stud. More surface contact, and a little more insurance.
Hay Doc, that is a great ideal... I'm going to make one for my son and me. We have Street Glide Specials and it's hard to get to the battery. Thanks and have a great New Year...
I’ve been jumping Harleys like this for years. But I’ve noticed that BCM equipped bikes don’t like to be jump started, and I have seen it damage the BCM. Has anyone else had this experience?
Why don't you recommend a jump box that plugs directly into your battery tender lead? I have a Stanley Jump box and a lead that goes to my Tender harness .Works like a charm.
I like your Harley jump start tool, it's inexpensive, easy to make and appears to be practical, reasonably safe and effective. I suggest making it a bit longer so it can be used on a greater variety of motorcycles. And as another person has suggested, making the notch at the end that engages the starter battery terminal a slightly smaller radius to facilitate a more secure engagement. Someone also suggested using a permanently attached battery charger connection. BAD ADVICE! Those are ONLY intended to provide a convenient connection for CHARGING the battery ONLY and NOW FOR A JUMP START CONNECTION. Attempting to jump start through those things will cause them to overheat immediately, causing damage and a real risk of fire. As an alternative, connecting the discharged motorcycle battery to another RUNNING vehicle via an installed charger connection will recharge a GOOD motorcycle battery if you're patient, but only if all the bikes electrical loads are TURNED OFF. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO START THE MOTORCYCLE WHILE THE OTHER VEHICLE IS STILL CONNECTED TO THE MOTORCYCLE!
Although I had no immediate need for the Harley jump start tool, knowing that it will be handy someday. I made one, but Instead of wrapping the tool with tape for insulation I used heat shrink, two layers for extra security. I cut the upper layer of heat shrink slightly longer so it extends a little bit beyond the ends of the first layer to achieve a little better appearance. I'm sure that tape works fine, but heat shrink won't deteriorate as much after riding around an the bottom of the saddlebag after a few years. I think it gives the tool a more professional look too.
Steve there is no “regular” time to replace. You could check with an ohm meter and wiggle test when you want. The most important is clean tight connections at both ends….Doc
