How to remove, rebuild and reinstall your starter

[walker70]

Hi,have a quick question about my starter,I am getting ready to rebuild mine but this is what is going on,where the brushes are on the original holder the brush with the insulated wire is soldered to the housing but on the new kit it shows it being screwed into the plate,anyway you can tell how to get around this???

[yvanttt]

use a soldering iron and solder wick or solder pump.
Be careful not to pull on the wire when unsorldering so the eyelet won't come off
It looks like the original eyelet is still present. only clogged by solder.

[GronkFries]

A very good guide, my starter had a mechanical defect on one of the brushes (Photo attached) so I didn't completely disassemble. Just took the back cap off, verified the washers (Thin, thin, thick inner to outer), wiped out the cover, wiped down the brush contact area with alcohol and reassembled with a new $15.00 brush plate. The difference is amazing - Instead of a worthless grunt the starter whirls over now at amazing speed. I was one of the suckers that bought a brand new battery first too - A recommended maintenance even for starters that seem to work ok. Your battery and charging system will love you for it.

Of course if your wing doesn't start with no choke and half a turn there is something wrong, so I'll have to be careful not to leave my thumb on the button for more than a tenth of a second.

Some things I noticed that could be mentioned:

Yes, you don't need to take the exhaust off but you do have to have a 1/4 drive set with a universal joint directly attached to the shallow 8mm (Or 9mm, can't remember) socket, then a short extension.

A 10mm ignition wrench should be used to hold the back nut in place when taking the battery wire off. A normal wrench doesn't slide in there very good.

When putting the starter back on, take your finger and gently push the chain to the right a little so the splines line up better.

When putting the bolts that mount the starter back on, do the front one (Near the splines) first and leave it loose, then push the starter up just a little bit to get the back bolt in - Tricky because you need to spin the extension/socket while holding the starter...

[Peer64]

Even after all these years this article is still very usefull.
I'm not an expert but with this article changing the starter was very easy to do.
I just didn't leave the bike on the side stand while the starter was out, but I didn't have any problems with putting the starter back in.
I didn't have to rebuild the starter because I bought a new one (I didn't want to question my reparations in my stadium of knowledge), so I didn't have to leave the bike with no starter for a long time.
Now I will go rebuild my old starter, so I always have one on the shelf.

By the way, I read somewhere that you didn't have to fear for the starterchain to fall back into the motorhousing. On the base of the engine are special gliders that prevent the chain to fall back. Have I read that wrong?
Anyway, thank you for your article, it helped me a lot!!

Greatings,
Peer

[redbug]

Sitting straight up or on the side stand is just fine.

[Peer64]

Okay,
thanks for your reply.

Regards,
Peer

[WingAdmin]

The chain won't fall away into the engine, but it makes it a LOT easier to get the starter back in with it on the side stand.

[Peer64]

Thanks,

I'll keep that in mind next time

Regards,
Peer

[OTTERCOMET]

Problem solved and saved me the expense of a new battery!
Thanks for posting this "how to". My 82 Interstate restore project had starter cranking problems and I was suspecting the CCA capacity of the battery was below required, and was just about to go purchase a new battery when I discovered this post. Completed the job as described. When I took the starter apart, everything matched Wes's description. Reinstalling the starter was a challenge. Finally got that cog wheel on the chain to stay in the mating poition by putting the bike on the side stand and elevating the right side a bit more using a floor jack. Now that it is reassembled, starting is almost instant and the starter motor cranks easily.

[Phantom6914]

I removed my old starter no problem. New starter arrived today and I can not get it into the sprocket for the life of me. Chain hasn't fallen and still moves freely but with new sprocket it's like it's not aligned when I go to install new starter. Any tips or advice would be much appreciated. Bikes is on its side stand, greased around mating surfaces, etc. But wont fully seat only goes as far as o ring.

[WingAdmin]

I removed my old starter no problem. New starter arrived today and I can not get it into the sprocket for the life of me. Chain hasn't fallen and still moves freely but with new sprocket it's like it's not aligned when I go to install new starter. Any tips or advice would be much appreciated. Bikes is on its side stand, greased around mating surfaces, etc. But wont fully seat only goes as far as o ring.

It's a problem a lot of people find with aftermarket starters. The heads (either the top part, or especially the splined gear itself) are not machined exactly to spec, and are too large to fit. Don't force it, you'll end up breaking something, and usually it's the engine, not the starter that breaks.

You can either machine what isn't fitting on the new starter, or what many people do is remove the gear head from their old starter (assuming it's serviceable) and installing it onto the new starter in place of the one it came with.

[Phantom6914]

I finally got it to seat and got it all bolted up. Installed new battery today. Now to wire the solenoid and see if she fires.

[gervais]

HI
well my 1984 starter is dying,,
it takes so much amps that i cannot start it even with my booster pack or a car battery.

last year i changed the brushes but it was a China crap,,
where can i found a good set of brushes,are they disponible separately?

thanks
gervais

[winguyjo]

bike bandit has them, i would assume partzilla and others stock them as well.

i don't know what you mean by this question ...
"are they disponible separately".

[gervais]

"bike bandit has them, i would assume partzilla and others stock them as well."

oh i will check on their site but they are in the States ,shipping cost are too high ,,at least here they have been raised by 30-50 %


i don't know what you mean by this question ...
"are they disponible separately".

i was asking if you can buy the brushes one by one

thanks
gervais

[DenverWinger]

Take your starter to the local automotive Starter/Alternator rebuilder, I'll bet they can find some brushes that fit....

[winguyjo]

DenverWinger has the right idea. in fact, for not a lot more than the price of buying 2 brushes online plus freight they could probably do a full rebuild and you would have a starter that's good for another 20 years.
i have had some success with following the how-to on brush replacement/starter cleaning/regreasing but there always seems to be a spot on the commutator that's not quite right. a rebuild shop would eliminate that little annoyance (or maybe i just need more practice).

[gervais]

well
yes i am thinking about that too,bring it at a starter repair shop here and we still have some that are still active so,,
but i will continue to search for at least a used one too keep it as spair.

thanks all

gervais

[gervais]

I removed my old starter no problem. New starter arrived today and I can not get it into the sprocket for the life of me. Chain hasn't fallen and still moves freely but with new sprocket it's like it's not aligned when I go to install new starter. Any tips or advice would be much appreciated. Bikes is on its side stand, greased around mating surfaces, etc. But wont fully seat only goes as far as o ring.

It's a problem a lot of people find with aftermarket starters. The heads (either the top part, or especially the splined gear itself) are not machined exactly to spec, and are too large to fit. Don't force it, you'll end up breaking something, and usually it's the engine, not the starter that breaks.

You can either machine what isn't fitting on the new starter, or what many people do is remove the gear head from their old starter (assuming it's serviceable) and installing it onto the new starter in place of the one it came with.

Bonjour WA,how are you in BC ?

my Chinese copy of starter should arrived monday here and direct from a Florida retailer.
i was reading your comments and i was wondering if i could keep the
OEM starter head and fixed it on the Chinese copy???

have you done it yourself?

BTW i ordered a set of OEM brushes and load spring from Honda to rebuilt my OEM Honda at least it last allmost 100,000 km,,not bad!


Gervais

[A2Wing]

Washers? What washers?
Step 11 says there are 6 washers, 3 on each end of armature. I found one thin washer on the drive end and zero washers on the commutator end. I'm off to the local hardware in search of washers.I don't expect to find what i need. Not even sure what I should look for. How important are these? How critical is the space these washers take up? NOTE: The Honda parts diagram DOES NOT show these washers, so I have to rely on you guys, and your hands on experience. This is a starter I removed, and replaces, a few years ago. The bike has been really hard,(impossible) to start recently. I'm pretty sure this is a cold weather issue. It's March in Michigan. Been some pretty cold temps. Figured I'd clean up this old starter, replace the brushes, and see if it makes a difference. So, If I need them,(I think I do), where to find just the washers?

[A2Wing]

Washers? What washers?
Oh, BTW, When the old starter was replaced, I did that because the starter would spin, but the engine would not engage. After reading up on that problem, and doing the seafoam, engine oil change trick, all was well. So, old starter was probably fine, when it was removed from service.

[DenverWinger]

Presumably there are enough washers to correctly take up the slop, the thing to do is reassemble with exactly the washers found when disassembled. The count can vary.

[A2Wing]

Presumably there are enough washers to correctly take up the slop, the thing to do is reassemble with exactly the washers found when disassembled. The count can vary.

Good theory, but I have no way of knowing if the starter has been disassembled before now. If it has, did someone lose, or otherwise decide to not use the same number of washers. I guess I'll try to figure out what a good fit is.

[gervais]

these washers must be for the side to side play of the armature.it better be a little loose that too tight .

i just installed my Chinese copy,work good so far.

no motorcycle here ,,we are waiting for 20-25 cm of snow again,
this has been one of the big snow winter we have known here in the province so far and march is not done yet.

gervais
riviere-bleue,
quebec

[A2Wing]

these washers must be for the side to side play of the armature.it better be a little loose that too tight .

i just installed my Chinese copy,work good so far.

no motorcycle here ,,we are waiting for 20-25 cm of snow again,
this has been one of the big snow winter we have known here in the province so far and march is not done yet.

gervais
riviere-bleue,
quebec

I agree, gervais. I guess I'll wait for the new brushes to arrive and put it together, see how it fits. Hoping for nicer weather, soon. Haven't had the wing on the road since Oct. I'm too old to mess around with 700lbs of motorcycle slipping out from under me. I have had the little Eton moped out, about a month ago. I can handle that in the snow.