starter relay help

call me stupid but I dont remember how to wire up my starter relay on my shovelhead, all I know is where the starter button hooks up to but cant remember which posts the solenoid hooks to and which post the wire from the assecories breaker hooks to, any help will be greatly apriciated, am laid up a little right now so now is a good time to work on it so it starts better. If ya need my email to send a pic or so just let me know.
thanks brothers and sisters

Shoveled

Beau44, here is a site deticated to shovelheads.
http://www.fargonasphere.com/spiders/TechTips/#Hitachi Starter

Go on down to "install starter"

Also the best tool anyone can have is the service manual.

ty killer, have a bible, just dosent show enough as usual, been havin elect problems lately, just tryin to clear it all up, thanks for the site, will check it out right now, later Bro

mine is the old stlye relay,it is under the battery tray and the solenoid is parellel to the primary, did a wiring job, that is I replaced some bad wires with the result of the relay clicks and the solenoid wont activate,still workin on it, elect system might be all fouled up

Wire job is complete, all is workin except the new solenoid fried, all I can see is that the realy fouled up, when disconnected all is fine but not the electric start, plannin on a new relay and solenoid an go from there, if any ideas, let me know Bro,s, ty

ty chucktx
my relay has one terminal (large) with a hot wire to it,the other(large) terminal has the wire that goes to the small terminal on the solenoid, the small terminal on the relay which is marked for switch has the wire from the start buttton attached, the other small terminal on the relay has nothing hooked to it.
When I try to start it I used a meter to check it and for a few seconds I get a reading on the wire going to the solenoid but then it stops,it wont activate the solenoid at all.
Is the purpose of the relay to provide switched ground in order for the sloenoid to activate?.
Also double checked my wiring, had the start button wired wrong, fixed that, when it was wrong the got hotter than hell, havent checked it yet, not sure if its ok or not.
According to my manual which ahs diagrams and other diagrams that I have got, it is wired right, unless I am missing something that is right in front of my eyes.

forgot to mention, I also made a ground wire going from the relay mounting bolts going to the frame ground lug.
This is nuts, have never had a problem like this, everything else works fine, I know I have done something wrong but I be ****ed if I can figure it out.
If I get this right, the side that does not get the hotwire will be the normally open side, right?,the relay is not marked in anyway except for the start button terminal which is one of the small terminals on the relay,the paper that came with it states not to hook any wire to the other small terminal on the relay, that terminal is marked with an I, the switch terminal is marked with a S

What style is the relay? Is it a small plastic one with a plug or is it one that looks like an old Ford style?

From your description it sounds like you have the older style.

The smaller, silver lugs are the ones for the starter switch. The larger lugs are for the starter.

To make it simpler to understand, I am going to try to have you make a simple diagram. Hopefully, we can both understand it.

Get a sheet of paper and turn it sideways. One one end, draw a symbol for a battery or just a battery with a pos and neg. Go over and draw a symbol for the starter switch (we will leave out the circuit breakers) Below or above that draw the relay just as it appears. Go to the right and draw the solenoid as the lugs appear (two large lugs, one smaller). Draw the starter next to it. At the starter, draw a wire from the post to one lug of the relay. Draw a wire from the other lug to the battery pos post. Now, draw a wire from the solenoids smaller post to one of the large lugs on the relay. Draw a wire from the other lug to the battery pos post. Draw a wire from one of the small posts to ground. Draw a wire from the other post to the starter switch. Draw a wire from the other side of the starter switch to the pos post.

The battery is always "hot" to the solenoid.
The battery is almost always "hot" to the normally open side of the relay.
The battery is usually switched to the starter switch.

When the key is on and you depress the starter button, you apply power to the relay which (smaller lugs) which closes and sends power from the normally open contacts to the solenoid lug. When power is applied, the electromagnet pulls the push rod back and contact is made across the battery side lug and the starter side lug and power goes to the starter.

I hope this helps 'cause my head hurts

BTW, I'll need to check on the relay I and S terminals. I remember it as hot and ground but a quick check with a meter can tell you. With only the S terminal connected apply power and see if there is any voltage at the I terminal. If there is, do not connect to ground. If there is not, do an ohm check from the I terminal to ground that will tell you there is no need to ground since it is internally.

Consider getting a shop manual. They are still available and would really help here.

That is the thing I was looking for but could not find! If you scan it, I'd like a copy!!!
They were some great little books.