The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay Starter armature no good

Folks,

My ute is a 1950 chev with a 216 in it, the car has been converted to 12 vilts less than 100kms ago.

The starter motor kicks her first go every time, no intermittent issues nothing.

Two weeks ago she just would not start, got a click from the solenoid and nothing else

I took the starter toan auto electrician who ""rebuilds"" starters and got a phone call yesterday that the armature has a short in it and he does not rewind armatures.

Does anyone know an aftermarket starter that works or where i can purchase a new or refurbished armature for mine

Thanks

Steve
Australia

Not much of a "rebuilder" is he. Not much of a business man either. Should have given you a price or a lead for a armature. Anywho, I suggest Ebay USA or Ebay AU, Ebay Europe. As you already know, shipping is a big cost from USA.

"kennethw" is a member here. A good fellow. If he still does business, contact him http://www.classicgenerator.com/
Until then, park on a hill.

Make a couple more posts so you can have access to the private message function and send a PM to TPR57C. He's a long time stovebolter from New South Wales, and there's a pretty good chance he will know where to find parts for your starter down under. We would need to know how the system was converted, as the 6V and 12V armatures have different dimensions, and they do not interchange. A 6V starter works well on 12 volts, as long as the number of teeth on the flywheel gear match the starter. 6V flywheel gears have 139 teeth. 12V flywheel gears have 168.
Jerry

Good point Jerry. I just noticed that Simso posted yesterday in the Welcome center and TPR57C responded today or whatever day it is there, probably Monday by now

Thanks folks, my understanding is that its the original 6v starter with solenoid upgraded to 12v.

I was blown away when the person who rebuilds starters contacted me and said they cannot rebuild it due to the aramature needs repairing, apparently in some spots it will spin and others it wont, so its a couple of short circuits on the armature, i genuinley thought thatwould be part of a rebuild.

My idea of a rebuild and others is clearly different, joys of getting old we have different expectations.

Steve

It sounds like you have an open circuit, not a short, on some of the armature windings. Current enters the armature through one of the brushes, passes through the windings, and finds a ground at another brush. If the conductors are broken, or the solder joint at the commutator goes bad, the current can't flow when the armature happens to stop with the damaged connection under a brush. Generally, an armature is not replaced during a "rebuild"- - -the commutator is machined smooth, and it's checked for open circuits, shorts, and grounds, and it is only replaced if it fails one of those tests.
Jerry

Interesting that its not part of a rebuild, but thats life, have found a second hand armature in australia and hoping it might be okay, its being shipped to me as I write

I repair musical instruments and could not envisage offering a rebuilt instrument and not being able to deliver on part of it.

Steve

Hi Steve see you are in Perth hope the starter is good I got a starter from lmc in California but postage is getting expensive and we have a a border problem at the moment

I actually have been speaking with a guy who uses a landcruiser fj40 starter motor on his ute, so options are opening up

Starter and generator rebuilding has been done that way during the 60+ years I've been in the business, and long before that, I'm sure. I'm the middle guy of 5 generations or auto mechanics, from my grandfather to my grandson. That's why a "core" item is required by rebuilders when they sell a part, so they can have another one to rebuild and resell. The main housings, armature, generator pulley, and other major parts are retained and refurbished, and peripheral parts like brushes, bushings or bearings, and other small parts are replaced. A starter usually gets a new drive gear and possibly a solenoid, also. It's just the way things are done in the auto parts rebuilding business. Would you scrap the body of a Stradivarius violin and make another one from new parts?

Early Land Cruiser engine were virtual clones of the 235 Chevy, under some sort of licensing arrangement by GM (or maybe just Japanese thievery) so it's possible the starters were also duplicated by Toyota.

In the late 1960's, a cylinder head for an MGA 1500 CC 4 cylinder was a bolt-on swap for an engine produced by Nissan/Datsun, also.
Jerry

Found an auto electrician who has semi retired, he was like yeh i can rewind the armature, easy peasy, we talked about society today is more a swap out parts rather than rebuild old stuff.

Should get it back next week hopefully, fingers crossed

Started perfectly, so glad I found an old school auto electrican

Awesome. It's great your truck is fixed and that you found a craftsman!.