starter repair
 

I posted this info on the "other forum" (that will remain nameless) and thought I would pass it along here as well.

I changed the copper contacts in my starter in September. It had got to the point where sometimes it would click instead of starting so it was time. Got the lugs and replaced them without any problem (except getting the starter in and out of that tight spot). Thought I had it fixed.

However, sometimes it would growl when I let off on the key. Not always but some times. I thought it was a gear mesh issue.

Last Friday it would not start. Tested all I could on Saturday and then took the starter out. On Sunday, I took the motor part of it apart and cleaned it up with electric motor spray. Brushes were good and commutator was clean. Tested out ok with meter. Put it back together and tested on the bench with jumper cables. Ran but sometimes I got the growl.
Monday night I took the gear end apart to see what was causing the noise. When I took the cap off the end, a ball bearing fell out.
Bingo.
If you look at the exploded view of the starter parts, there is a ball bearing that goes into a hole drilled in the end of the clutch pack. The spring on the solenoid plunger rides on it. I guess when I took the starter apart in September, the ball fell out of the hole but unknown to me, remained inside the starter. It would bounce around and cause the growl I could hear sometimes. On the Friday it must have fallen in somewhere that permitted it to lock the starter. Cleaned and regreased and reinstalled. It is like a new starter.
I did not have the exploded view from the manual when I took the starter apart and did not know there was a ball bearing in there.

I emailed Roger Brown who has the popular site that includes info on such repairs. He added this info to his site in regard to the repair of the starter so hopefully no one else well run into this problem.

Randy