1985 LTD Starter Refurbishment

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Rednaxs60

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Had an issue with a new starter last June that I installed in December 2015. Had it repaired under warranty, but in the meantime I installed the original starter that continued to work. I have the bike in the garage for some maintenance, specifically throttle valve synchronization, and decided to tackle a starter clean and refurbishment as required.

I perused the DIY article by WingAdmin over on the Goldwing Docs forum, how to remove, rebuild and reinstall your starter, https://goldwingdocs.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=259 and used it as the basis for my starter rebuild. The pictures of the starter when disassembled were practically the same. The brushes were about 50% gone so I bought a new set to be installed ($11.59 CDN - taxes in). I have not included pictures because there is not a lot I can add that is not in the thread by WingAdmin.

The starter has been working, but was sluggish on initial turnover of the engine. I did not want the starter to fail at some inopportune time so some maintenance was needed.

Getting the armature out of the starter required some finesse, but was accomplished without damaging the wiring. The cleaning and brush install was quite easy.

The reassembly went well, and when bench tested worked as expected. After install I turned the bike over with the kill switch on to prove that it worked. Hooked up the exhaust and started the bike. It turned over 4 times faster (estimate) than previous with less draw on the battery, and started quicker.

One aspect of doing this type of work is that I am finding that there is not a lot on these bikes that can not be done by the DIY mechanic. I think one of the issues facing us all is that we have succumbed to the trends and logic of the day in that we replace items, we no longer get these fixed or fix ourselves. In defense of this philosophy, the shops available to do this type of work appears to be dwindling.

Doing a starter clean, and replacing the brushes will result in more trouble free kilometers from the bike. Doing this work was time well spent, and considering the expense of a new set of brushes versus the cost of the new starter that I have ($250.00 CDN), I should have tackled it before. I do believe that the new starter I bought will be a spare starter for some time to come.

I highly recommend doing this work before it is needed. The difference in starter performance is quite remarkable.

Cheers
 
[url=https://classicgoldwings.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=186030#p186030:16n21r61 said:
mcgovern61 » Mon Jan 16, 2017 2:34 pm[/url]":16n21r61]
Thanks for the great report! :thanks:
+1 :good:
 
Approximately 110,000 Kms (approx 70,000 miles) - not a lot; however the brushes were about 50% worn and there was a lot of brush dust inside. I did not do as thorough a cleaning as WingAdmin did in his thread, but I cleaned and used isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol on all surfaces. I used an angle pick to clean all the grooves on the commutator and vacuumed everything.

To clean the main body and between the magnets, I used a soft toothbrush and vacuumed out the interior with a shop vac. I used Lucas high pressure wheel bearing grease on the gearing.

The local electrical place did not recommend using steel wool to clean the commutator, instead recommended emery/crocus cloth - something not conductive. Reasoning is that any pieces of steel, no matter how small can be an issue when starter is being used. I only did a cleaning with a cloth, and scrape out the grooves very gently.

There is also a locating pin in the 1200 starter. It does come out so don't lose it if you clean the starter. See Picture:
Starter Driving Gears - 1.jpg


Well worth the few hours to do.

Cheers
 
Have been fortunate as well, :yes: with a new set of brushes, cleaning, & lubed the starter's usually work like new. :good:
 
Adjusted the idle and balanced the cylinder banks yesterday. Still can't get over the difference this work made to the starter operation. Quieter, faster and easier on the battery. Used to have to have the Battery Tender on the bike every two days to accommodate a sluggish starter but not since I installed the refreshed starter.

Cheers
 
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