Starter motor questions - with pics

Other than the problem with the brushes (specifically lack thereof) are the brush blocks okay when concave, if they haven't grounded out?

Pics:









This one bothers me the most..is it too concave to work with new brushes, or can I replace the brushes, and get back to riding?? Do there need to be cuts in the surface of the barrel, or is the smooth/brassy surface okay?



Thanks.

Post edited by: pyxen, at: 2007/06/20 16:19

IMHO, it's time to get a new one or hopefully a good used one off ebay. That commutator looks pretty nasty.
There is a guy on ebay that sells rebuilt ones, a little pricey in my mind but then, what can you do.
I'll post a URL in a bit.
Ride safe.

Here is his URL but I didn't see any 550 starters listed.. starter parts
this one does,,


He does

Post edited by: The Milkman, at: 2007/06/20 17:03

Oye..guess I'll be looking into it tomorrow morning. I just got my new solenoid from Z1E, so if this hadn't cropped up, I'da just slapped it in. Of course it wouldn't have worked with the brushes in the state that they were in...so I guess it's best that I've checked. :pinch: :pinch:

Must...burn...rubber!! :evil:

...thinking about this again: Is it absolutely necessary to replace the motor because of the wear on the commutator, or can I use new brushes the way it is?

I'm talkin - if there were no commutators on the face of the earth, will it work fine with new brushes?

Post edited by: pyxen, at: 2007/06/20 19:49

You can probably get away with new brushes. For how long is anyones guess. That commuter is very worn and the new brushes will have to wear to the shape of the commuter before they make full contact. Will it work? Most likely. I'm not sure how long it will take to wear through the commuter to the point that it just grounds out, it looks pretty bad. You also have to make sure that those lines vertically are still isolating the pads from each other. You might be able to get the commuter better with some fine sand paper and a block if you are careful. I used to "turn the comm" on my RC car motors all the time but I had a lathe to do it, and by the time they looked like yours it was time for a new motor

Ron

I would try to turn the commutator. If you know of a machine shop you could bring it to they can do that pretty easy. I have turned many of these for electric motors. Its easy to do (15 minutes). You would probably throw it away anyway so you might as well try it!!

Take it to an automotive starter/generator/alternator shop, they should be able to turn it down for you. It all depends on whether there will be enough left after it's turned down.

I just checked the parts diagrams at kawasaki.com, and it looks like your selection is limited to 80-85 550's.

Post edited by: steell, at: 2007/06/22 13:02

hey..thanks for the replies, guys.

I ordered some brushes from my local shop - not a kawi stealership though, so it's a decent deal

They put a big order into their distributor yesterday, so hopefully they show up today.. *crosses fingers*.

I'm gonna stick the armature in a variable speed drill and grind it down slowly myself.. I'll get some help from my old man who has worked on this kind of thing before.

If I can get away with spending $15 on brushes, and not $100 on a new (refurbed) motor off eBay, I will. Then I can spend it on something else for my bike. :laugh: When I checked the commutator for continuity, everything checked out okay.. so it's not grounded out just yet. If the thing lasts me for another little while (even til the end of the season!), I'll be happy.

Hopefully I can be back up and running tomorrow!!

Post edited by: pyxen, at: 2007/06/22 13:53

Okay - so we turned the commutator down and now it's a nice smooth barrel instead of being all apple-core shaped. There were some wierd depressions in it as well, which we think lead to the brushes being beaten up - as they created vibrations. I'm pretty sure they were the original brushes anyways, cause they were *really* done. Like dinner...

Once we got the old wires off the plates I was able to solder the new ones on and man-handle them into place while sliding the armature in. That was a lesson in patience and leverage..I'm tellin' ya. It helped to have another set of fingers there.

Once everything was back in the starter motor, we got an awesome spark off the battery (which didn't happen earlier), and the thing spun like a top on speed. It was awesome

I put the new solenoid in, wired everything back together..slapped the carbs back on, and shes waiting to fire up in the morning.

It'll be nice to ride again, since I haven't ridden in about 2 weeks now

Oh - to turn the commutator, we put the armature in a variable speed drill, and put the drill in a vice, so the armature was horizontal. Once it was spinning, we used some fine grinders, and held them on the commutator ever so lightly..heavy enough to grind, but not too heavy.

We made sure that the slits were all still open, and that nothing was grounded out. It all worked wonderfully, and I think it's a good thing that we ground it down, anyways, cause the new brushes were freakin' huge compared to the old ones. They barely fit as it was!

All in all, a successful operation. Thanks for the suggestions made, above.

Cheers!

coolB)

Glad to hear it worked out for you,,

whats on the tv in the background?

whats on the tv in the background?