My son Andy had to have the starter in his truck rebuilt. He had gotten the truck to run but after cleaning the engine and replacing gaskets the flattie didn't want to start. He bought a new 12 volt battery, he's switching it over to 12 volt, when he went to start it the start started melting down.

I told him we could rebuild it ourselves, I have all of the needed tools, armature growler, armature lathe, all the tools my dad had that he used to rebuild starters back in the '70s. I used to help him rebuild them. We got all of the parts priced out and could find almost everything locally except for the cable stud, which was stripped. I found a local rebuilder who had the stud but then Andy asked how much it would cost to have the starter rebuilt. $45, parts alone were going to be around $25. He dropped the starter off this morning and before he left he asked how much it would cost to upgrade it to a 12 volt, same price. He just got back to the shop and the starter looks like new. They blasted the entire unit, recoated the fields inside and soldiered everything necessary. Heck, for $45 I thought that was the bargain of the century. He's got to paint it and then see how it works once it's installed.

If anyone is curious here is information about the place:

M J Auto Electric
5222 N 124th St
Milwaukee, WI 53225

Starters | Alternators Milwaukee, WI - M J Auto Electric

I'll have Andy post once he has the starter installed and gets the engine running.

We do enough complaining about companies that screw us, we should also credit the places that do good by us.

 

Well, Andy got the starter in the truck and the engine turn over about 10 times faster than it did before so I guess it's OK. He out in the shop right now making menacing laughing sounds and the flattie is spitting over and sounds pretty good with no exhaust!

 

Oh I remember making those menacing laughing sounds when I first got the engine to fire and run for a couple of seconds. Sounds like he has the disease. Congratulations!

 

Sometimes its better and easier to have a pro do it rather than you do it yourself. The guy who owns the local auto electric shop here charged me $30 to rebuild a starter, including a nice black paint job.

 

I still do the menacing laughing sounds when I start mine up. Still haven't gotten it on the road, no telling what sounds I will make when that happens!