Starter Issues '76 KZ750 Twin

muddytailgate wrote:

Just got off the phone with Roger Wallick of motorcycle-recycle-center.com and he says "sorry but I know that starter is good". Bummer.

I can insist the moon is made of green cheese, does that make it so?

The guy is a jerk and is using bluster to cover up his lack of ability, I see it all the time.

If you're anywhere close to Eaton IN, you can stop by and I'll give you a starter. But I'll be gone for awhile starting tomorrow morning, so it's a limited time offer

PM me

I appreciate the offer but I am in VT.

muddytailgate wrote:

Just got off the phone with Roger Wallick of motorcycle-recycle-center.com and he says "sorry but I know that starter is good". Bummer.

Sounds like a really good warning to never do business with him. He probably hooked it to a battery and it spun so he thinks it's golden. Unless you load test it, there's no way to know if it's good. Pretty obvious it is failing under load.

Will Auto Parts Stores, etc be able to load test this starter? In other words can it be load tested on a bench?

muddytailgate wrote:

Will Auto Parts Stores, etc be able to load test this starter? In other words can it be load tested on a bench?

No. You would need some kind of test fixture that loaded the gears like it is in normal operation.

This may or may not help but, my Dad has a KZ750 twin and the starter was messed up for a while, it would do all sorts of wierd stuff, a lot of which you decribed. the problem was the ring gear on the outside of the gear drive cap on the starter was loose. when you would crank it over, sometimes it would work, sometimes it would just spin and sometimes it would bind up and stop. Took the sun gears and ring gear out and put lock tight around the outer ring gear and peened (not sure about proper terminology here) with a small round punch around it so it wouldnt move and it has worked great ever since.

Got another starter from ebay today and guess what...it works. Thanks for everybody's help. Think twice about getting parts from aforementioned supplier.