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I pulled my starter and looked into it because it wasn't working and found that a couple of the brushes were about worn off. I also noticed a small crack in one of the magnet segments. Now I am wondering whether it would be better to replace the whole starter with a rebuilt or just replace the brush set assembly? Anyone had any experience just replacing the brush set, and if so, would you do it again or buy a rebuilt starter instead?
If you did replace your brush set, what else should be done to an old starter to restore it? Also, any recommendations on where to get inexpensive parts would be welcomed.
LMC Truck is one source of starter rebuild kits. Take a look at what they include in the kit and decide if it would meet your needs. An auto parts store may give you a fair assessment of what your starter needs. Of course they may also try to push you to buying a rebuilt, or even a new starter.
Its been a long time since I have rebuilt one. IIRC, it wasn't long after before I was back to buy a rebuilt one.
Thanks, I took a real quick look at LMC and did not see a rebuild kit. But, after I posted I talked with a business that does nothing but auto electric and they said they had a brush kit replacement for about $13. I am going to take it down to them and see what they think. They also quoted me $106 for a complete replacement for the starter.
I suspect a rebuild may not stand the test of time, but with 18 years of service in on my truck, I may not need much time.
I went ahead and bought a replacement brush set and am going to work on it this weekend. I suspect you are all right that a professional would do a good job, but it is fun working on these projects. It'll probably end up costing me more, but the experience may be worth it!
Success! I put the new brush set in and put the starter back on and it started right up. Now I can hit the road again as soon as I can afford the gas.
The only slight trouble was getting all 4 brushes retracted enough to slip on because I did it alone. Anyway, a $14 fix beats $100 for a new starter (if it stays fixed).
Congrats man! Sounds like a quality job well done. Plus, when that rebuilt starter gets well over 75k on it you can tell people you did it yourself. Very nice!