Killed two starters in my '54 Chevy pickup. Now what?

UPDATE BELOW


Was driving my new '54 Chevy 3600 daily for a few weeks when the starter took a ****. I took it apart and found a piece of the armature had blown apart and tore the inside up. Okay, so maybe it had come to the end of its life. My truck has the stock 235 and was converted to 12 volts years before I bought it. From everything that I've read on the HAMB and elsewhere, the stock 6 volt starter should handle the twelve volts just fine, although the life of the starter may be shorter. I bought a rebuilt 6 volt starter and installed it yesterday. The truck started right up just like it should. I got four starts out of it before it quit on me, just like the old one. Was this just bad luck, or is something else wrong? I bought new battery cables, everything is hooked up like it should be. I'm not too sure where to go from here. I really don't want to keep on changing starters every week, and having to call up my friends for a push start so I can get back home. I haven't taken the new starter apart yet to see what failed. Since I've already paid over $180 for it, hopefully I can send it back and get it rebuilt or replaced. Anyone have any ideas?

Thanks for the help.

 

Killed two starters in my '54 Chevy pickup. Now what?



Now you should hide. Starters ain't in season.

 

i built a 30 chevy with a 235 / 12v system and kept the 6 v starter. i took it to a starter shop and they changed springs on the drive. it worked good and didn't cunk like some do.

 

I have ran a combo like that since 81. Have burnt 2 starters up from hard start (long cranking) situations,but if you don't have that problem,you should be good.I wonder if you just got a bum reman starter.

 

Foot start. Starts really quick.

 

It's just bad luck. The armature may have been turned down too far - quality of rebuilt parts isn't as good as it used to be in many cases. 6v Chev starters definately will work forever on 12 volts, especially with no solenoid.

 

So my luck continues. I picked up my starter from the rebuild shop today. They replaced the armature, because it too had blown just like my original starter. I only got a couple good starts out of it before the armature blew apart. Again. For the third time. I'm at a loss. $180 for the "supposedly" rebuilt starter and $96 to re-rebuild it. Funny thing though, after taking apart my "new" starter, it looked worse for wear inside then the original starter that came with the truck and blew up the first time. Although I didn't take the new starter apart after it blew, I figured taking it apart this last time, after being rebuilt TWICE, it would look damn near new inside. Not the case. I'm going to take it back to the rebuild shop on Monday to see what they have to say. I had asked them to switch it up to 12 volts, but I don't think they did. They armature looks like a worn and used up 6 volt to me. Still wondering how much money I'm going to have to dump into this damn truck before I can drive it again.

Am I really just having this much bad luck with these starters, or does the truck have something to do with it? It's such a simple design, though, that I just can't seem to figure out what could be causing THREE armatures to blow apart.

Pic. First armature that blew up on the left. Third armature to blow up on the right. The rebuild shop kept the second one. They said it looked the same as the first.


Has anyone else experienced anything like this?

 

It sounds to me like the starter stayed engaged after the motor started.

 

Possibly damaged being bench tested (over-revved) at the rebuilder

 

If you have a different rebuild shop in the area get a second opinion. just sayin maybe some one in the shop is missing something

 

Exactly, What else could it be???????

 

wrong quote above sorry. this one instead

 

A thought, ...could you use a Model A/T starter bendix as a voltage drop and slow it down some? It seems like you are spinning the armature too fast.

 

So the starter is back at the rebuild shop. I figured I would go over some of the hacked up wiring in the mean time and try to straighten some things out. The truck was switched to 12 volts awhile back by one of the previous owners and the wiring is seriously garbage. The more wires I chased the more pissed off I got. Nothing makes sense. There are no fuses anywhere. Everything seems to be getting power directly from the battery. The headlight switch was pulling power from both the alternator and the battery. There are so many two and three inch wires spliced together to make one, it's unbelievable. There's is original 1954 wiring and newer wiring mixed together and wires going nowhere. I still can't believe everything worked. I'm almost positive now that the wiring is the culprit for my three blown starters. At first I thought I might try and replace the wires one at a time, but looking at the mess under the dash, it seemed impossible. I'm pulling all of the wiring out and starting fresh with a Ron Francis Bare Bonz harness. I put one in my '50 Dodge and love it. Since I bought the whitewalls for our '47 Packard, my Dad is footing the bill for the Harness. Thanks Dad.

Here is my nightmare.

 

This is the truck. Nice from afar, but far from nice.

 

wow, that looks like a mess.
hope you get it figured out, looks like your headed in the right direction. good luck.

 

If you buy a new starter or a reman make sure its MADE IN AMERICA or REMAN. IN AMERICA. the ones rebuilt or made in Mexico are absolute ****. I have returned 1 remaned and 1 new power steering pump remaned/made in Mexico, 4 starters, and 1 alternator made in Mexico. This is between both my 40 plymouth and 59 apache, both with 350's.

Also, when they rebuild these things at a shop they arent rebuilt with new parts... often they just chuck parts that are within tolerance into a big box marked "350/327 starter" So odds are that they replaced the bad part with a similar one from the same kind of starter that wasnt the 12v (if there is a difference between the parts). Trust me I know this, its happened to me before.. and they charged me for a new rebuild with new parts, what they didnt know is that I wanted all the receipts and they were SOL when I asked for them. Bunch of theives (and they were used parts). Same goes for alternator shops and head shops. Be careful and just make sure you dont get screwed

 

I agree with previous posts...sounds like the starter gear may NOT be retracting
from the flywheel ring gear after the engine starts.
Then the running engine would "over-speed" the starter motor and cause the
armature to fly apart.
Maybe not.

 

Has anyone else actually experienced this for themselves and had their armature(s) blow like this?

 

i think i hungry for some spaghetti

 

If you get the factory wire harness for a 12 volt system it is cake to instal it has all factory ends and connections etc.., have done about 6 now and only takes about 1 hour from start to finish very simple, i would also say the starter is sticking but since your going to rewire you can start from there. Good luck

 

Garbage


Perfection

 

After

 

I've been driving the truck daily since last week and so far so good. It is running better than ever and everything works just like it should. If you can save up a little extra cash before you wire up your next project, check out the harnesses from Ron Francis. You absolutely will not be disappointed.

 

So what was the issue with your starter? Or was it all in the wiring? I haven't seen that many **** connectors since I looked under the dash of every pickup I've ever had, lol. The best thing I've done for my '55 was to rewire it. It was a fire hazard.

 

The only thing I can think of is that the wiring was so ***-backwards that it was somehow supplying way too many volts/amps to the starter. It was wired up really weird. For example, the old headlight switch was getting fed from the starter and the alternator. On the same terminal. I pulled out a lot of crispy wires from behind the dash. It was definitely a fire waiting to happen.

 

I totally sympathize. I just went through the exact same thing on my '55 chevy truck. I think if you'd have looked at my truck crossways, it would have caught fire, lol.

You did a really neat job with the wiring too. Looks great!

 

I thought you said the starter still used the foot switch? If so, the only power going TO it would be straight from the battery. How can you get more than that? I still think you had a linkage problem, hanging the armature in the flywheel and overspeeding the armature. The only time I ever saw damage like that was a generator combined with a sbc with solid lifters, once I got it to quit throwing belts the damn thing wouldn't charge very long!

 

Look at his alt. plug in pic. 7 fried...

 

Throwing the windings is from RPM. And you cannot do that on the bench with a battery. (as in bench testing). I used to rebuild auto electrical stuff before the word electronics was involved. We used to run 12v on 24v on the bench once in a while just to hear them scream, never blew one up. The free running speed on a 12v starter on 12v is around 7000 rpm! Nevr checked one, but that's what the spec sheets used to say.

Something is hanging that drive up engaged. It could be adjusted wrong. You can adjust the throw of the linkage or solenoid so the pinion runs free of the flywheel.

For you guys that think a REBUILT unit should have all new parts in it, This ain't how it's done. You want new parts, buy new.
ALL rebuilders pile up used parts that can go around again and pick from the piles to make the rebuilt units. When the piles run done and you don't have enough to make a unit you start adding new parts. We would always put a new drive in, unless the core had a perfect one. Even brushes that were more than 1/2 height got ran again.
I don't know what reman is, but I would buy new rather than that.