ArtMaybee
I'm Baaaack!
- Location
- Mobile, AL
Its relatively easy to give your starter a checkup/tuneup.
Mark the starter where the starter body and end caps meet. A line drawn with a paint pen works nicely. Draw a line from body to end caps on both ends. Hope that's easy enough to understand. It helps with indexing everything when reassembling. If you will be bead blasing and painting or whichever way you want to refinish, then use a scribe to make your lines.
Remove the two bolts holding the starter together. You may need to use a penatrating spray of some sort. Do NOT use too much force on these since breaking them sucks. If WD-40 or whatever doesn't do the trick here is one you might not know. Heat the bolt near the threads with a propane torch and while its hot rub bees wax on the bolt. As it cools, the wax is sucked into the threads and many times frees it up. That's an old machinists trick.
Pull the end caps off the starter. Take note of any washers/shims on the shaft of the armature.Remember their location and order so they can be replaced in the same way. Remove the armature (big thing in the middle).It will slide right out from the gear side. Give everything a once over, checking the amount of brush wear, faulty connections on brush leads, etc.
If the starter had side-to-side play in the shaft (armature), it probably needs a bearing and/or a bushing replacement. With the starter apart use fine wet dry paper or emory cloth and lube with WD40 to clean the commutator contacts until no traces of corrosion and/or discoloration remain and it's smooth.Try not so sand more than you absolutely need to get it clean. You don't want to create flat spots so be somewhat gentle.
If there is severe brush wear, there will be lots of dust in the brush cap (back cover). If you see a lot of dust you may need new brushes. As the brushes wear, the springs apply reduced pressure on the brushes. This can cause starter failure. If you don't have replacements, you could try bending the springs to increase pressure slightly. This is a temp fix and you will need to get a brush kit at some point (though it could last a long time this way). Since many kits contain the entire brush plate with springs, there is no worry about the modified springs as they should be replaced when you replace the brushes.
I hit the brushes lightly with wet dry paper to remove any build up and also knock the sharp edges down just a little (But not on new brushes). It just helps keep the brushes from catching on the commutator until they bed in.
After leads are checked and contacts cleaned I spray everything down with carb cleaner and dry with compressed air. If the solder connection between the brush and brush plate isn't solid, you can resolder the connection. If the lead is in bad shape otherwise, then the brushes should be replaced.
To make reinstalling the armature easier, the brush springs should be pulled out of the brush holders with needle nose pliars. Then load the brushes in their holders. Slide the armature into the main starter body and carefully past the brushes. Once the armature is in place, user the needle nose pliars to put the spring ends back into the brush holders. This puts spring tension on the brushes and presses them firmly against the commutator (copper contacts on the armature).
I use a blue waterproof grease from a boat store. It is very sticky and works great for most things on a ski. I think its mercury Outboard brand. I put a dab of this into the bushing hole on the brush end cap. And apply a good amount on the shaft on the gear side. I then slide the gear side cap on and turn a little bit. Remove and repeat. I do this several times until the bearing and seal are well loaded. I've tried putting the grease in the bearing directly but this seems to work better for me.
The seals that go beteen caps and starter body I rub the same grease into to give them a nice coating.
Make sure that any shims/washers that were on the shaft go back where they came from. Line the caps up with the index marks you made in the beginning. Don't forget the seals go back on before the caps. They swell with age so unless you get new ones it can be an effort to get them seated correctly. Put the bolts back in and test.
If you had bad bearing, bushing, brushes, seals... you can get this stuff. If anyone wants I can share some links to sources for them.
This took longer to type than to do it. Maybe I'll try to take pics of the process and to a proper write-up if anyone is interested.
Mark the starter where the starter body and end caps meet. A line drawn with a paint pen works nicely. Draw a line from body to end caps on both ends. Hope that's easy enough to understand. It helps with indexing everything when reassembling. If you will be bead blasing and painting or whichever way you want to refinish, then use a scribe to make your lines.
Remove the two bolts holding the starter together. You may need to use a penatrating spray of some sort. Do NOT use too much force on these since breaking them sucks. If WD-40 or whatever doesn't do the trick here is one you might not know. Heat the bolt near the threads with a propane torch and while its hot rub bees wax on the bolt. As it cools, the wax is sucked into the threads and many times frees it up. That's an old machinists trick.
Pull the end caps off the starter. Take note of any washers/shims on the shaft of the armature.Remember their location and order so they can be replaced in the same way. Remove the armature (big thing in the middle).It will slide right out from the gear side. Give everything a once over, checking the amount of brush wear, faulty connections on brush leads, etc.
If the starter had side-to-side play in the shaft (armature), it probably needs a bearing and/or a bushing replacement. With the starter apart use fine wet dry paper or emory cloth and lube with WD40 to clean the commutator contacts until no traces of corrosion and/or discoloration remain and it's smooth.Try not so sand more than you absolutely need to get it clean. You don't want to create flat spots so be somewhat gentle.
If there is severe brush wear, there will be lots of dust in the brush cap (back cover). If you see a lot of dust you may need new brushes. As the brushes wear, the springs apply reduced pressure on the brushes. This can cause starter failure. If you don't have replacements, you could try bending the springs to increase pressure slightly. This is a temp fix and you will need to get a brush kit at some point (though it could last a long time this way). Since many kits contain the entire brush plate with springs, there is no worry about the modified springs as they should be replaced when you replace the brushes.
I hit the brushes lightly with wet dry paper to remove any build up and also knock the sharp edges down just a little (But not on new brushes). It just helps keep the brushes from catching on the commutator until they bed in.
After leads are checked and contacts cleaned I spray everything down with carb cleaner and dry with compressed air. If the solder connection between the brush and brush plate isn't solid, you can resolder the connection. If the lead is in bad shape otherwise, then the brushes should be replaced.
To make reinstalling the armature easier, the brush springs should be pulled out of the brush holders with needle nose pliars. Then load the brushes in their holders. Slide the armature into the main starter body and carefully past the brushes. Once the armature is in place, user the needle nose pliars to put the spring ends back into the brush holders. This puts spring tension on the brushes and presses them firmly against the commutator (copper contacts on the armature).
I use a blue waterproof grease from a boat store. It is very sticky and works great for most things on a ski. I think its mercury Outboard brand. I put a dab of this into the bushing hole on the brush end cap. And apply a good amount on the shaft on the gear side. I then slide the gear side cap on and turn a little bit. Remove and repeat. I do this several times until the bearing and seal are well loaded. I've tried putting the grease in the bearing directly but this seems to work better for me.
The seals that go beteen caps and starter body I rub the same grease into to give them a nice coating.
Make sure that any shims/washers that were on the shaft go back where they came from. Line the caps up with the index marks you made in the beginning. Don't forget the seals go back on before the caps. They swell with age so unless you get new ones it can be an effort to get them seated correctly. Put the bolts back in and test.
If you had bad bearing, bushing, brushes, seals... you can get this stuff. If anyone wants I can share some links to sources for them.
This took longer to type than to do it. Maybe I'll try to take pics of the process and to a proper write-up if anyone is interested.
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