Ok I'm stumped and so close to running. Put in a new starter and lined the teeth onto the chain perfectly. Starter turns the chain but it doesn't spin the flywheel to kick the motor in? What am I missing?

 

First check to see it you hooked the battery up backwards. The start circuitry will still work with a backwards battery - but the starter will turn backwards.

You have a one way "sprag clutch" (google that) between the starter motor and the engine (it is called a starter clutch on quads, but the generic name is sprag clutch). It allows the engine to overrun the starter motor when it starts up, and allow the engine to run and go with the starter stopped. But when the engine is stopped and the starter turns, it locks up and turns the engine.

If you hook the battery up backwards the sprag clutch works in reverse too. The starter will spin and spin - but not lock up and turn the engine(or the flywheel since it is attached to the engine).

It is also possible that the starter clutch is bad or misassembled. Did you take any of this apart?

 

I will try that but I never have taken it apart so I don't think it's misassembled. I never knew that. Will just buying a new starter take care of it if the battery is correct? I'm gonna switch the battery and report back.

Thanks,

Rick

 

Rick, don't just switch your battery posts around the other way blindly. Look at the big heavy gauge wires. Red should go to the battery terminal marked (+) or pos, and the black wire (or green) should go to the battery terminal marked (-) or neg. Sometimes things can be damaged when the battery is hooked up backwards, so we don't want to do that deliberately - just in case. On small quads there *usually* isn't damage from a backwards battery.

If you battery is wired the correct way around, and your starter still spins while the engine doesn't, then the starter clutch is slipping.