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Brush wear limits on starter motor (BJ8 and others)

To: healeys@autox.team.net
Subject: Brush wear limits on starter motor (BJ8 and others)
From: Alan F Cross <alanx@proaxis.demon.co.uk>
Date: Tue, 9 Aug 2005 18:26:09 +0100
Hi guys,

Having had my starter motor just 'die' on me (open circuit), I've pulled 
it and dismantled it. Before dismantling I metered it, and had a low but 
variable fraction of an ohm as I rotated the armature. Assumed bad 
brushes or dirty commutator.

The commutator was a little bit 'groovy', but now smoothed with 400 
wet'n'dry, and polished with wire wool. I hope I'm doing the right 
thing!

My real question is regarding brushes. My brushes, and the flex-wires, 
look in very good shape. The length is about what I see in the manual 
sketches, though the length is not specified in the book. All four of 
mine measure just about spot on half an inch in length. So, does anyone 
know the length of a brand new brush? And what is the generally accepted 
end-of life-length? If mine are as good as new, I don't want to fit an 
inferior modern set of brushes. Equally, I don't want to reassemble 
everything with half-worn-out brushes!

If I continue to have trouble after rebuilding (with or without new 
brushes), I'll have to check the spring tension behind the brushes.

Thanks again for any help in this.
-- 
Alan F Cross (H-BJ8-L/41672 aka "Ginny")
Webmaster for the UK's national Austin Healey Club at:
http://www.austin-healey-club.com




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