Starter

[Rodney_C]

As many of you know I have an 83 wideglide, well here is the story, I went out the other day to start it (considering that Kentucky has fucked up weather) it turned over 3 or 4 times then I got "click click" so I figured the battery went down, turns out the battery was fine, so I check the solenoid, the cap wasn't cracked and it was arching when I touched the terminals with a screw driver.  Then I got to listening today(another nice day) and I heard the clicking coming from the starter, so I took it off and tore it apart, fount out the brushes and stuff was bad.  Now here is the question is it better to rebuild the starter or buy a new one?  I want every ones opinion on this , so guys help me out.


Thanks

Rod

[pappyfreebird]

ifn you kin jus pop in set of brushes n be good ,,,but jireh has em fer 130 to the door,,,lots of opinions on im sure,,? is how much ya wanna spend

[76shuvlinoff]

Brushes and springs are cheap as long as your bearing is ok and your armature isn't grooved ...easy fix.  It takes a pretty good soldering iron to do the repair (on a Prestolite). 

FYI I have only had my Prestolite apart, I'm thinking you might have an Hitachi.

[Rodney_C]

yeah it's a hitachi starter forgot to mention that, looked pretty easy to work on , no grooves on the armature just a little black.

[86fxwg]

Spike it,bolt it & forget it.12 years never a problem.

[crazycanadian]

I'd buy that ulitma one it's great value for the money and has better gear reduciton in it.. i have a 93" shovel with 11.1 comp and decompressors and put an expensive all balls on it and it was barely better than stock.. I took off the spensive starter and put on that ulitma chrome starter and it wheels over like it's got low compression.
M

[Rodney_C]

thanks for all the help guys, I may end up rebuiling the old one and then buyin a new one, rebuilding the old one just for a spare , you never know when you may need an extra starter.

[pappyfreebird]

thats kinda wud i did when the last one died..orderd new fum jireh n whilst waited i looked n starter junque box n made nuthar one outta 3..best thing is ,,i r still usin it..n new one sits in box

[Rumblefeesh]

Hey, Rodney_C, where in KY are you? I am in Nashville, and the weather in the area has been crap.

[Rodney_C]

I'm about 45 mins from Lexington and the weather here is crappy as well, all rain and NO snow, while my inlaws have over 45 inches of SNOW .....sucks to be them

[Jusbo48]

I would get a new one, install it and then rebuild the old one to have a spare on hand.
If ya get a new one get the Ultima, I have one and the damn thing has got a "Potty mouth" load of guts for the price

[shov60]

I' ve try every starter on the market and have had good results with the all balls starter for early shovelheads.  But on Friday I went for a ride and yes it wouldn't start the starter was spinning and wouldn't catch I kick till it started and came home.  Bright and early Saturday I went out to fix things.  Found out that the starter gear had munched up the starter end splines and was trashed this is the second time I've had to change all balls starter for the same reason looks like the starter gear is harder heat treated metal and the end splines on the all balls is a softer grade so one will eat the other up causing the starter to fail. I'm going to try a Ultima starter to see if it will work as far as the all ball starter there good but the splines on shaft can't take it.  I 60 now and the electric start is great no more kicking but I'm going back to kick start if this Altima starter does work out
Has anyone had the same problem with there starters and how are the Utima .           shov60

[76shuvlinoff]

 Uh-Oh, I gotta brand new All Balls sitting on the shelf.....   

[Rodney_C]

Ok here is the deal, I rebuilt my starter(added new brushes and cleaned the armature) the thing is instead of turnin the motor over the first couple of times and just spins like it doesn't engage, then about the 3 or 4 time it engages, what could be the problem now?