hi,

Mine has started doing the dreaded noise when in neutral. Pull clutch in & when in gear goes away
Just started recently and seems to be a little better after riding / warm,  could just be mind games but regardless is a little noisy.

Question is, has anyone with a softail been able to remove the starter bolts without removing the oil bag. Would appreciate advice if its been done as it otherwise means exhaust, oil bag and so on just to get to 2 damn bolts. One I can see clearly and am sure an extended allen driver will do the job but the other?
Im in the process of getting the parts first (gaskets, bearing puller etc) and plan to do it over winter

Bike is an 08 fatboy 

appreciate any advice

rob

thanks mate,
from what the service manual indicates, the starter must be unbolted to remove the i-primary
I'll be making a few custom tools by the looks of it !

Just watched a video from lawabiding biker on youtube and they removed the starter bolts on a dyna just with an extended tool they made and said it is possible on a softail without removing everything. They have some detailed video on almost everything you need to know about harley's.

I undo the bolts but leave the starter where it is.    Bloody long allen key is the answer.

Watching the  video the fiddly bit was aligning the starter when putting it back together, when they removed the inner primary the starter dropped slightly but a second set of hands was able to move it around.