Travis

It's definitely worth a try. If it works, it's a $9 fix, if not, oh well.

I found this video online, basically what mine is doing, several people in the comments said they had the same problem, and 1 person said it was a bad connection, others also said a bad cable. Or High resistance in the starter circuit. https://youtu.be/rXorKGg2TbA

Okay, the starter has very minimal play, i put it in the vice, and set up my dial indicator, zero'd it, and at max it has 2 1/2 Thousandths side to side.

I replaced the flywheel in 2018 when i rebuilt it, so it only has about 300 hours on it.

Solenoid shift. there is a piece that the solenoid clips to, that piece is attached to the starter gear, when the solenoid retracts, that causes the bottom of the piece to move the opposite direction pushing the starter gear outwards.

I'll have to pull the starter and check for how much slack is in it.

Another thing, from the factory the starter comes with 2 holes in it on the bottom. One hole is plugged. The other is not. I just wonder if fine dust from riding is getting in there and over a period of starts wears on the support shaft bushing surfaces and wears them to the point where the shaft isn't aligned with the ring gear on the fly wheel.

Okay, i was able to contort my body into a position where i could see the flywheel gear much better. and used the weight of a pair of vice grips to hold the key in START. i then got a screwdriver and moved the flywheel a hair, and when i say HAIR, i mean a HAIR.. and the starter kicked over and engaged and spun the engine. Now 2 things, Is it a issue with the flywheel teeth, Or: The clutch on the starter gear is designed to spin freely 1 way, and spin the motor the way that allows the gear to move independently of the shaft so it can mesh with the teeth on the flywheel, then it spins the engine over. SO I DON'T FREAKING KNOW OR is the starter not getting enough amperage to overcome that friction???

scrap what i said in the last post.

Okay, here's what's happening. i removed the flywheel housing again, and whenever the starter clicks, it only moves, maybe a 1/8" of an inch? It isn't hitting the flywheel and stopping, it's just bare moving. i'll try to record a video.

Okay, i put the spare solenoid on, (of course i had to remove the starter to do that ) so while the starter was on the bench, i hooked up a good battery to it. and it spun up every time HOWEVER, the way i'm triggering the solenoid is jumping from the + (alot of amps) to the trigger tab with a 18 gauge wire. Now, i did clean up the starter gear and clutch and WD 40'd it, and that seemed to help a little bit, it turned it over a few times before it started clicking again, back on the mule. Of course i've read about the starter needing shimmed and what not, but i highly doubt that it's the case as the starter worked great for a month and a half before any problems occured. Teeth were in good shape also.

here's something to chew on! Lol wouldn't start earlier, clicked about 40 times.. this time, I went from the + on the solenoid and unplugged where the trigger wire goes, and shorted from the big + to trigger tab, and it fired right up. That big + has more amps than that little wire... Sooo is for some reason, i am not getting enough amperage through the trigger to retract the solenoid completely, SOMETIMES? Or is it in the starter causing it need to more amperage to retract the solenoid SOMETIMES.?

me either, all i know kawasaki recommends (stock) a 235CCA battery, and i have a 270 in it.

I'm not pulling that starter off until i get the new cable. I'm almost ready to screw it and live with it.

just now, i took off the flywheel housing, so i can see the ring gear and starter gear, whenever the starter clicks, there is no sign of outward movement of the starter gear.. so it's something internally in the starter i think...but what? also read something interesting, bad cables can (of course deliver lower amperage) and that can burn out solenoids.....

+Positive cable ain't gonna be here for 2 weeks.... Guess i'll head to TSC tomorrow and look, or order a + cable like i listed earlier. and put a ring terminal on that white wire.

Really?! i've never seen any cables at my TSC, in Willis or Conroe... i'll have to look closer

Okay, that cable i have on hand will work perfectly, ends are sealed too. i cut a strip of black heat shrink tube and put on it so i won't cross them up.

hold the phone, I forgot i have a short red wire that i had bought that's a Briggs part... technically it's a + cable, but a cable is a cable, it might reach to from the battery to the where the ground point is.

the negative is just a a regular cable, coated with rubber. the + cable has a white wire made onto it that has a diode and 20 amp main fuse that goes to the keyswitch.

here we go... Made in the US of A.... https://www.amazon.com/Spartan-Power-Negative-Connecting-Batteries/dp/B07HBNKVTR/ref=sr_1_11?dchild=1&keywords=ground%2Bcable&qid=1612400495&sr=8-11&th=1

Holy cow.... $25 for that ground cable! heck it's shorter then the dang + cable! $21 at partzilla.

My + cable also tested with the same resistance, not sure when that one is supposed to get here though, guess ill order a ground cable too.

i haven't got around to installing the spare solenoid yet. weird occurrence today, it wouldn't start, so i shorted the posts and held the key in start, the starter motor would spin, but the gear would not kick out to the flywheel. And before whenever i short the posts and hold the key in start the gear would mesh with the flywheel.... i think next i will remove the blower housing so i can see what the gear is doing while it clicks. what drives me insane is how intermittent the problem is, it went from monday to wednesday starting up PERFECT, no issues at all. and today it acted up again. still waiting on my new + cable. However i want an opinion on this, i cleaned my ground cable ends up and where they bolt too real good today with my dremel tool, i noticed my ground cable has some green corrosion starting at one end, i might ought to strip the coating back some and see how far it goes. i tested resistance on it and got 00.1 ohms on it... Ohms confuse me so if someone could translate what that means please

I would buy an inline spark tester and hook it up, see if you lose spark when you accelerate .