Outdoor Power Equipment (Lawn Mowers, Snow Blowers, Chain Saws and more) Discussions

I removed the electric start from my 5hp snowking  because it was not engaging everytime.   I  put some oil on the  shaft  and reinstalled the starter   Now it doesnt seem to contact the flywheel at all.    Is there a trick to installing one ?      All I did was line the holes up  and put the bolts back on.  do I have to do anything else?

thanks

I believe that you need to make sure the brushes are contacting the metal rod that comes down.  The brushes are those little soft grey things that have wires connected to them. 

As i understand, the motor runs but the bendix just isnt engaging? its possible the oil you used is thickening in the cold and not allowing the bendix to slide freely on the shaft. i'd try pulling the starter again and if possible remove the bendix and get everything super clean. then lubricate the shaft and contact points with a good white grease such as lubriplate. its a fairly thin grease that wont thicken and harden in the cold.

then before reinstalling the starter again, test it on the bench using a battery and jumper cables, or heavy duty battery charger to assure proper operation before remounting to the blower.

theres a possibillity the spring under the bendix is worn or broken also, thus another good reason to tear it down. to check for parts wear.

I will pull if off and  look at it again.   It is a 110V  house current type starter   Cant I just plug it in to bench test?      I am guessing that  when i test it the shaft should pop forward and also spin the small gear, right? 

Yes, you can bench test it and should see the gear act as described..  Expect it to jump a bit when it initially starts.

 JGreen,

You might want to put the starter in a vise, when you test it, gives you 2 hands free!!

                                                                                     Fred 

hi guys ...

we test the 110 starters all the time,they will indeed jump a bit when you push the button .it will supprise you even when you know its coming.

the gear will pop out when starter spins.

it may or may not stay out ...

and it may not retract fully when bench testing (held in hand or vise )

i attribute this to the starter not being spun back in by the flywheel.

as long as it spins out at start you should be alright.

later chris

Never put oil or grease on a starter shaft that's a bad thing to do. Check out brush they may be worn out or pignon gear worn out too

walbroman wrote:
That may be my problem then!       I will take if off the blower and reexamine it .       Can these starters  be repaired or  do Ineed to buy a new one.    Like I said it  was engaging some of the time when I first got the blower,   Now it seems the motor is spiining but not engaging the fly wheel on the motor.

any metal to metal contact such as in a  starter is going to create excessive wear without lubrication.......thats why starter mfgrs use lubriplate or similar white grease sparingly in these applications, dont go overboard but a bit of lubrication is necessary to get long live from a starter. (assuming as asked in an earlier post, that the starter motor runs ok and the bendix is just not engaging) and if the bendix is worn out, it could be due to lack of lubrication causing excessive wear. personally i wouldnt reassemble one without a bit of lube.

Well some say lubricate some say's no but one thing for sure this unit becomes hot after time if it runs to long over 10 seconds is too much it could get hot if you want to put lithium grease a bit I dont see an inconvenient but all my starter here doesnt have any grease at all and I never had problem with it as long that id no water going on the shaft and pignon

Walby