Bendix Gear

[dwire]

Just out of curiosity, any clue how many miles it took to destroy that? - And do you think that to be the original factory equipment on the bike? Almost begs the notion that was written; maybe it did not wear out, but some douche (PO) removed the bushing to replace it and then forgot to install the new one??? Don't know, that stuff happens, but I have a starter here with over 160,000 miles on it and it has only taken brushes, sintered bearings on either end of the armature and eventually the armature itself needed a re-wind as the insulation gave out after 57 years of use...

Very interesting. I'll log that one in my "big-book."

[Bob Bennett]

H'mm, I have to think about these answers, the milage one has to be aproximate, maybe 50 to 80 K kilometers.

The odometer had 30K on it when bought by me in 2004, so I think that was 230k. That makes me think S/Motor had
bushes and brushes fitted previously, the bushes are fairly good and the brushes are about half worn. There is no sign of the bendix bushes (see photos in post), would have expected a lot of bronze dust in the area as well if they had been there. I belive that they were left out by PO (or whoever did the job on the starter for him).

It did last a fair while though, didn't it.

[dwire]

H'mm, I have to think about these answers, the milage one has to be aproximate, maybe 50 to 80 K kilometers.

The odometer had 30K on it when bought by me in 2004, so I think that was 230k. That makes me think S/Motor had
bushes and brushes fitted previously, the bushes are fairly good and the brushes are about half worn. There is no sign of the bendix bushes (see photos in post), would have expected a lot of bronze dust in the area as well if they had been there. I belive that they were left out by PO (or whoever did the job on the starter for him).

It did last a fair while though, didn't it.

Absolutely then. That's not too bad I would think. I agree with the assessment that it would appear likely that the PO/PO's mechanic was having a "brain fart" with regard to the bushing in the end there for indeed, one would expect to see a whole lot of crap in the nosecone area and all around the starter with all of that torque "twisting" on the bendix.

Thanks for posting. I was sort of curious, for while as we all know, occasionally things fail in an unexpected or atypical way, I, in all honesty have never seen one "evaporate" as that one has, even with much more use. After that many miles (what around 180k!) I guess anything is possible. Glad it finally got nailed down for you. I think I would be very pleased that a motorcycle ever saw that many miles before someone dumped it and never returned it to service! (PO or you must be an Iron Butt member... )

[Slashsevenpig]

Hi Bob,

...I didn't realise that there were bushes in the bendix shaft,
if I had it would have been a lot cheeper than buying a whole bendix...

I'm watching this thread with interest because I'm in the middle of a starter re-bush, myself. Bike is a '77 R100/7, and I opted to replace only the armature bushings. However, I did take off the keeper and spring clip that secures the bendix to the armature shaft for cleaning. I've read on this forum what a bear it can be to get the keeper and clip back together on the shaft.

Which approach are you going to take to get it back together?

Peter

[Garnet]

Info on Bosch starter rebuilding
http://www.thisoldtractor.com/gtbender/ ... ir_-bosch-

[Bob Bennett]

Thanks for posting that link Garnet, I found it on Snowbum's site and did use it, but I'm not computer skilled
enough to post a link yet.

G'day Peter, As you will find, that is the hardest part of the whole job, this might be a bit brutal but here goes.
Hold the armature horizontal in a large vice with aluminium jaw guards very tight, slip on the bendix, keeper
and clip, spend some time geting the clip into shape and into the groove as far as possible, using large multigrips
on the pinion gear rotate the bendix out to drive the keeper over the clip, protect the shaft with some electrical
tape as you will need to force the clip into the groove with some pliers as the keeper is driven on.
I hope it all makes sense, and happy to be of help.

[pkboxer]

Yes, the keeper over the clip was the hardest part of the job.

I got the clip into the grove and as close to the orginal shape as I could.

Then I put a super cheap 2 arm puller on the keeper so that it is trying to pull the keeper over the clip.

Then I compressed the clip with some strong needle nose pliers and when it was compressed, the tension on the 2 arm puller slid the holder up and, at least partially, over the clip.

Once it's on somewhat, the puller can be tightened as to pull the keeper fully on.

Hope that explaination is clear enough

[Major Softie]

Thanks for posting that link Garnet, I found it on Snowbum's site and did use it, but I'm not computer skilled
enough to post a link yet.

Bob, You needn't have any new skills to post a link. With this software, all you do is paste in the url, and the site turns it into a link automatically.

http://www.boxerworks.com

See? All I did was type in those letters, starting with the "www," and: poof, it's a link.

[dougie]

Will be looking into my Bosch starter this winter.
Looking at the microfiche, the bendix seems to have 2 bushings. Is that correct?

[Bob Bennett]

Thanks Major, I'll try it soon.

Yes Dougie, that is correct.

www.boxerworks.com