Any opinion on rebuilding a starter?

[wymple]

My 850 starter gave it up after 37 years. I see rebuild kits pretty cheap. Should I bother or just look for a replacement?

[Brendan W]

What's wrong with it?
Brushes and a comm clean up, even bearings, go for it.
If the armature is rubbing maybe because things are coming unstuck in there or the windings are burned then bail out.

[Steve]

Agree with Brendan, but will add: open it up to see what you have BEFORE ordering a rebuild kit.

Besides the fact that you might not want to waste the money on a rebuild kit when you might need a whole starter, there were two different starters that used two different rebuild kits. From the outside, it's hard to say which one you have, you have to open it up to see if you have two brushes or four.

Stocker's Starters has rebuild kits for a reasonable price, and even has starters for about $150.

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[wymple]

Guess I better pull it off & open it up. There is a 4 brush kit I saw on ebay for 16 bucks.

[Redman]

Guess I better pull it off & open it up. There is a 4 brush kit I saw on ebay for 16 bucks.

Yes, pull it out (or remove the cover) to look for the lettering on the end cap to see if is a Mitsuba (4 brush) or a Denso (2 brush) before order a brush kit, cuz, as Steve says (I would never argue against Steve) you need to determine if you need a 2 brush kit or a 4 brush kit.



Here on mine, in 2008, the brushes were worn so short that wasnt much spring pressure, and the commutator bars had a lot of brush dust melted into them. And Just would not go most of the time, and when it did it was slow.


Here is after I cleaned up the commutator bars. I had glued some emery cloth to a paint stick to use like a file, and then spun the rotor in a drill motor.
Has been good since.




As far as what think about rebuilding it: THis cheap guy says, yah, rebuild it for 20 bucks rather than get a completely referbished one for 150-175.
Unless: the bearings are shot, or the windings are damaged, or swapping the starter is such a trouble that you want some assurance that dont have to do that again for several years.

[wymple]

Turned out to be a 2 brush starter, piece of cake to rebuild. One of the coil springs that tension the brushes had broken. Cost me a whole 22 bucks for a brush kit, my dealer had several old starters laying around so we just robbed a set of springs out of a Honda starter. After this experience, I would never gamble on buying a used starter. This way I know what I have.

[850 Combat]

That's what I have, a two brush. One of the springs is broken. It can use brushes too though, at least one. I bought a $16 kit off of E Bay which is the wrong one. I searched the forum off and on for a couple days, but didn't find this until this morning. I've got the correct kit coming now, thanks. Only one of the brushes was really short. I've been using it every day, so I hope the parts show up soon.