I've been troubleshooting a starter lately, and got tired of holding it up in the hole while trying to start a bolt with the other hand. Fix: studs in upper inboard and lower outboard mounting holes. Now, the starter goes right in place, and stays while I put on nuts and the other two bolts.
Oh, it's a modified starter. Several years ago I wired the field coils in series, and it has been excellent on 12V. Due to tight engine, I recently overworked it, and it's lost power. Gene Carrothers turned the armature for me and I cleaned up the brushes, but no help. I found the field coils are loose, and my be shorting out. Wish I had that special tool for loosening the big screws.
At some point, I'll be money ahead to buy a Becker.
Ralph,
Clamp the starter housing to your drill press table with the screw centered under the chuck. A piece of wood inserted through the housing and clamped on each end works well for this.
Chuck a big screwdriver without a handle in the drill chuck. Engage the screwdriver in the screw head using the drill press feed and turn the screwdriver with a wrench. Two people make the job easier.
The locking tabs that are punched in the housing to hold the screws in place may need to be removed first with a Dremel if they are large.
The screws can be installed in the same manner. Make sure the field pieces are properly aligned as the screw is tightened. They may need to be clamped in place first to form and align the field coils.
It is important that the field pieces are mated tightly against the housing for the starter to work properly.
This worked for me.
Thanks, Art. I don't have a big ol' screwdriver to sacrifice, so $17 bought a 1/2" drive set and a package of 3/32 drill bits from Harbor Fright. The drill bits cleaned the staking from one end of each screw. The screw head is 5/8", but the slot is too narrow for that bit. The 7/16" bit was just right.
I had to heat two of the screws with propane before they broke loose. I haven't done a close inspection yet, but see where the stud was arcing and end of a coil was shorting.
Check out mcmaster-carr parts
#5610A2
#5610A33
impact drivers
Bill
You know that you could do this even if you want to use the original screws. You put in two studs finger tight Put the starter on and install the other two screws and then remove the two studs and place the original screws. You could also use longer bolts with the heads cut off instead of the studs. Then remove and install the other two screws.
Norm
When I was restoring my Model A, I needed to rebuild the starter or generator (I don't remember which). The field coil screws were TIGHT! I had one of those impact screwdrivers you hit with a hammer. Believe it or not, I broke one of the bits. Screw didn't budge. So I heated the screw head up with an oxy-acetylene torch. Heated it until it turned red. Let it cool. I then tried the impact screwdriver again. If you've never used one of these, you have to sort of 'pre-load' the thing by twisting it in the direction you want to go and holding some pressure on it while you hit it with a hammer. Well, when I went to twist it, the screw came right out. It was completely loose. I turned out the other three screws with just a screwdriver.