My starter drive gear thrust forward and engages the
 flywheel but
fails to
turn over the engine. Any of you more mechanically
 inclined guys have a
guess as to what my problem may be? (It's a rebuilt
 starter)

Jay

Can you turn the engine over by hands on the ring
 gear?
One rotor could be one tooth off on the phasing
 gear.
Make sure the right spark plugs are in there.

Put a  voltmeter on the brush connections.
If the starter wire is too small too much voltage
will drop across the wire.

Send a sketch of the wire sizes and a schematic on
 how
it is wired.

Paul Lamar

 Hi  Jay, Make sure that the starter Bendix drive is
 correct and not
 running out of travel before the solenoid contacts meet.
 (remove
 starter, clamp starter and put a piece of pine packing
 crate onto gear
 and engage starter should smoke the wood on the gear), no
 matter how
 hard you try to stop it, ie you will not stop the gear, all
 the above
 assumes that the engine will turn over.
John Burey

 Thanks for all the responses gentlemen. I attached a
 diagram representative
 of how I have mine wired. So far I tried putting a volt
 meter on the
 solenoid terminals. With the battery on there is 12+ volts
 but with the
 starter button pushed there is less than one volt at the
 solenoid. I'm using
 8 gauge wires and they're getting hot rather quickly.

 ...Oh and I can turn the engine by hand.

 Jay

 What is the current rating on the solenoids? As much as 300
 amps
 can flow through a main starter cable. Starter motors are
 around
 3 HP (for a short while). 3 HP is 2.300 KW.  2300/12 V
 = 190 amps.

 Paul Lamar

 With that much voltage drop with the starter actuated, you
 have a DEAD SHORT in the starter.

 Joel

 Jay,
 Are you saying the cables from the bus to the solenoid and from the
 solenoid
 to the starter are 8ga. wire? The control wire through the staarter
 switch
 can
 be light gauge wire, 16ga or 14ga as it only powers the pull in
 winding. The
 power wires that supply the main current to the starter should be regular
 battery cable. If the starter circuit is longer than 3 feet, you
 should go
 to
 a heavier wire. The longer the distance, the larger the wire diameter to
 reduce voltage drop in the wiring.
 I would recommend doing a voltage drop test in the wires. Connect the
 positive
 meter lead at the battery (buss) end of the wire to the solenoid, and the
 negative end at the solenoid connection. Engage the starter just long
 enough
 to get your voltage reading. Then do the same between the solenoid and
 the
 starter. Note that battery voltage will drop to 8 to 9 volts during
 cranking
 on a system that is operating normally due to the high current draw.
 If the voltage drops are high in the wires, there is not enough left
 to turn
 the engine.

 Dale Davies



 Check for the stator winding shorted to the housing.  That happened to
 me.
 Lots
 of current pull and little torque.  Your torque will depend on exactly
 where
 the
 short is. An insulated stator wire rubbing on the pole piece(s) is a
 likely
 failure point.  Look for one of the stator coils that will move when you
 push it
 about.  Movement means friction and possible failure.

 You can use a strip of thin sheet insulating material inserted at the
 contact
 point to break the electrical contact and then add a drop of high temp
 epoxy
 to
 keep things together.  Silicone RTV rubber will fill a gap and prevent
 coil
 movement while allowing later coil removal if necessary.

 Craig Taylor


 Again, thanks to everyone taking the time to offer suggestions.
 I upgraded the 8 ga. Wire to 2 ga. But there was no change. I took the
 solenoid off and made the ground (as if the starter button were engaged)
 And measured across the terminals. The resistance went near zero, I
 interpreted that as the solenoid is closing and getting power to the
 starter. I have since taken the starter apart. I enclosed some pics.
 I don't see anything touching but then I'm not certain of what's not
 supposed to be touching. Any further thoughts much appreciated.

 Jay


Hi Jay, Did you try my suggestion and try loading it on the
bench? While you have it apart, there should not be anything touching
the armature (except the brushes), so if you pull out the armature from
the housing there should not be any signs of the armature grounding on
the field poles, or the brush-holders touching the commumator, the
brush-holders are bolted to the end cap via screws, which ground the
brush-holder to the end-cap which is grounded to the main housing. The
neg, brushes are grounded to the brush-holder.

So if you are happy with
all that put it back together and using jumper leads clip the neg. lead
to the mounting lugs clip the pos. lead to the battery, then touch the
pos. lead to the solenoid lead going DIRECTLY into the starter, it
should INSTANTLY be at full speed, do not touch the positive lead onto
the battery post as you are likely to find how much explosive power is
in hydrogen, and blow your battery and YOU!!!

If that works clip the
positive to the battery solenoid terminal on the starter and jumper the
start terminal to the battery terminal on the starter, it should push
out the bendix drive and spin as hard as it did direct on the starter
terminal. If it does not work you have a crook solenoid or the solenoid
is on upside down, ie. the short stud is connected to the battery and
the long stud is connected to the starter.
John Burey.



After the breakdown I did notice two of the straps might be rubbing against
the brush holders. I insulated them, reinstalled the motor but no change.

While reading over John Burey's post several times it suddenly occurred to
me I didn't need the negative battery lead connected to the solenoid.
Disconnected it from there, mounted it to the engine and bada bing bada boom
the starter works just like it's supposed to.  Apparently I'm more of a
pilot than mechanic.  :o)

Thanks again all.
Jay

I am so glad you got it working Jay :)

Paul Lamar