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Date:         Sat, 21 Mar 2009 13:51:50 -0400
Reply-To:     Mike <mbucchino@CHARTER.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Mike <mbucchino@CHARTER.NET>
Subject:      Re: Starter Cleanup
Comments: To: Mike S <mikes@FLATSURFACE.COM>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

The brushes could be held back with some light copper wire. Then, when you insert the rotor, break the wires with needle-nose pliers. One other thing rebuilders do after dressing the commutators on a lathe, is to undercut the mica between the segments. They'll also lacquer all the windings (both field and rotor), to prevent moisture from corroding things or shorting them out.

Mike B. ----- Original Message ----- From: Mike S To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM Sent: Friday, March 20, 2009 8:11 PM Subject: Re: Starter Cleanup

At 05:54 PM 3/20/2009, John Rodgers wrote... >Now that my transmission is out, and the starter is easily accessible, >what maintenance might I do to it and associated parts to ensure it >continues to function trouble free well into the future.

When I had my tranny out for repair, I took the opportunity to take the starter apart and clean things up. It's pretty obvious how everything comes apart. There was lost of dust/grime inside, I cleaned it up, and used synthetic grease on the moving points (but keep it away from the brushes). I also cleaned up the commutator with sandpaper. Use regular flint paper (the light colored stuff), not emery cloth, and clean any grit out well.

As I recall, the only hard part was keeping the brushes pulled back from the commutator when putting it back together. AIR, there was some way to lock the brush springs so they could later be released with a screwdriver.

Make sure you seal it up again to help keep water out - it was sealed with some kind of sticky sealant. I used Hylomar.


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