The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay Generator or Starter Rebuild (rewind)

Has anyone had their generator or starter rewound recently? Can shops still do these old things? Can you still buy new armature / rotor cores? Mine are from the 55-62 era, and the insulation is pretty eaten up. $$$ ?

I don't want to buy a rebuilt one and find out they only replaced the brushes and bearings.

Seems like there should be a topic on this. I'm probably searching the wrong words.

GMCdp,

A friend of mine recently had a starter for a old tractor rewound. He had to give his first born as collateral.

The windings are static...they don't move or wear out. Brushes, springs bushings and bearings are another matter. They are cheap and readily available. Those are the consumables in the generators and starters, not the case or windings.

If you are worried about the field windings you could always take the case to a motor shop and have them dip the thing for you..or you could buy a spray can of red insulating varnish and refurbish the thing yourself.

Stuart

atomarc,

It's the breakdown in the insulation that I'm talking about. After 50 years outdoors, I don't expect anything other than metal and ceramics to stand a chance. Mine are both eaten away.

Actually the field windings seem ok. No discontinuity, and no shorts to ground that come up on the meter.

Everything you need is still available. A large majority of the old coils were wrapped with a cloth wrapping and then dipped into a varnish, however, this wasnt a long term fix and the wrapping material can still deteriorate and eventually the windings could short to the case. Same on the armatures, there are "insulating stacks" inside of the armature and they are made of a paper like material that eventually will get old and can cause shorts.
I can help you out with any component part you need or a complete restoration If you will private message me.
Thanks,
Ken

There should be plenty of 12 volt Delco parts, and good-quality rebuilt units around. Getting an armature rewound and changing field coils might be necessary on really rare stuff, but with the untold millions of Delco units that were built, it's hard to imagine they would be that scarce even now.

If you can't find something suitable close to you, drop me a PM. I have connections with a couple of oldtime rebuilders who can make your parts look and perform like new, or swap with you for a good-quality rebuilt.
Jerry

I have bought several high performance field coils for 6 volt starters. It makes them spin almost as fast as 12 volt. And they are not very expensive.