starter location

I read a thread here about a whining sound when engaging the starter. It said to grease the starter bushings. I cant for the life of me locate the starter on my bike.1983 750 LTD shaft. I have the factory service manual and all i could get from it is that its on the left side. I'm assuming behind the alternator rotor? If anyone has pics or instructions please let me know. Thanks

The 750 engine is a bored out 650.
The starter on the 650 is on the left behind the cylinders on top of the crankcase.
There should be a rectangular chrome cover with 2 bolts right behind the cylinders.
The starter is under the chrome cover.

Another way to locate the stater motor is to trace the heavy gauge wire from the starter solenoid to the motor.

From the positive battery terminal(+) a cable should go to the starter solenoid and then from there to the starter motor. While you've got the motor apart to lube the bushings you might check the carbon brushes for wear and the commutator where they touch for grooving.

Rebuilding kits are available but you need to determine what model and type of starter is on your bike.

thanks for the replies. I'm waiting for my new battery to arrive and have it installed before I start tinkering with the starter.

Jon, Perhaps your' reading was in regard to the starter clutch. Which resides behind the rotor at l/h end of crank. its' failure often causes a whine, and fails to turn eng. over. Starter motor as posted lives under #1&2 carbs. luck, G

I read both threads about the whining. My bike will start, its just when its really cold and you hit the starter button you hear this horrible whining noise

Today i was able to get the starter out. Alot of carbon, but the brushes were in good shape. What exactly gets lubed? I have the factory service manual and it has an exploded view of the starter, but shows no bushing. I ended up lubing the tip of the armature where it rotates in the end cover. It looks like the end cover has a bushing in it, but the service manual calls it shims.

As far as I knew there is nothing to lube in the starting motor as regular maintenance.

When starter clutch goes bad, it sounds like marbles, or a bad bearing, and engine does not turn. However, it may only fail ocasionally. Mine kept failing about 25% of the time when I got the bike. After a year I got fed up and replaced it with a new one. Did the job myself.

I.ve done searches here on this forum and there have been numerous posts about lubing the starter motor bushings when you are getting a whining noise as your pressing the starter switch.(search "starter bushing") I just need to know what exactly gets lubed.

jon0108 wrote:

I read both threads about the whining. My bike will start, its just when its really cold and you hit the starter button you hear this horrible whining noise

Jon, if I were a betting man, I'd bet alot that what you're hearing is the starter clutch. When my engines cold on my 750, it will howl like castrated cat when it starts. That sound is the rollers of the starter clutch rubbing against the shaft. Unfortunately the 750 startor clutch isn't behind the rotor on the left side, it's inside the engine. If you search under starter clutch you can find some descriptions about the repair.

Link

I think your right. After reassembling the starter motor after I lubed what I think should have been lubed, it still made the same noise . I see where the starter clutch is, looks a lot more difficult to get to than the starter motor.

It is. It resides in the secondary shaft, behind the crank, and to get to it, the clutch, exhaust, oil pan, and secondary shaft have to come out.