Categories: all aviation Building a Biplane bicycle gadgets misc motorcycle theater
So, I sat down this evening to rebuild the new Goldwing starter I picked up from the guy at bikesalvage.com. I was thinking to myself, "well, it's a junkyard starter, it probably needs at least new brushes, which I already have." I'd picked up most of the commonly-needed parts for a starter rebuild a month or two ago, hoping to rebuild my current starter.
I opened up the new starter, and was surprised to see that it actually looked pretty good. I measured the length of the brushes (which is the standard way to gauge when they need to be replaced), and they were the same length as new. Hmm. What? How could they be new? But there they were. In fact, the insides of the starter looked new too, no dirt, everything shiny and sparkling. I greased the end of the armature shaft, and reassembled the starter.
I turned my attention to replacing the starter in the bike. This was a bit of a challenge -- in order to do it most easily, the bike has to be on its sidestand. Of course, the Goldwing has a sidecar attached to the side of it. It doesn't have a sidestand. I ended up pulling up the sidecar by its wheel, rigging it to the main beam in the garage, and putting a jackstand under the shock mount to keep it secure.
Pulling out the old starter and putting in the new one turned out to be pathetically simple. If I'd taken it to the dealership and they'd charged me an hour's worth of labor (probably $65), it would have been a waste of $35. My total time, which includes me being a complete novice at replacing Goldwing starters, was an hour. I usually figure my time is 3-4x what a professional mechanic could do. But hey, hooray for things being easier than expected!
The real surprise was when I ran back inside and grabbed the key. I switched on the bike, ensured it was in neutral, and pressed the starter switch. I expected to hear the old familiar "ka-whIIIRRRRR-na, ka-whIIIRRRRR-na, ka-whIIIRRRR-na" of the old starter. Instead I heard, "RR-NANANANA" and the engine was started. Whoa! That was 5-10x faster than the old one! It was really quite amazing, I hadn't realized how tired the old starter was; I just figured that old Goldwings had slow starters. Not so, apparently!
So, I'm very pleased with my $50 investment in a new starter. I'm very confident this starter will last a long time, quite possibly longer than the engine, and it'll probably still be going strong when this rig is finally broken up and sold as scrap. Amazing. I'm going to have to call Bob at bikesalvage.com and ask him about the bike it came from. It couldn't have had more than 10-15 thousand miles on the odometer.
Just amazing.
Posted at 22:20 permanent link category: /motorcycle
Categories: all aviation Building a Biplane bicycle gadgets misc motorcycle theater