I took the starter out of my 87' wagon to see if anything was awry in it. I've never disassembled a starter before so I was unaware that the brushes were spring loaded. Is there a special tool I need to keep them out of the way so I can reinstall the armature???

I took the starter out of my 87' wagon to see if anything was awry in it. I've never disassembled a starter before so I was unaware that the brushes were spring loaded. Is there a special tool I need to keep them out of the way so I can reinstall the armature???

 

Small drill bit or a piece of stiff wire.

That sounds good in theory. The problem is that the brush assembly housing is connected to the field magnet housing by 2 thick wires. There's prety much no room for movement short of cutting those 2 wires. I'm thinking I'd just be better off picking up a new/refurbished starter than deal with the hassle of that...

 

Thanks for the suggestion though.

As stated, see if there is some small holes that you can fit a wire into to hold the brushes back until the armature is seated again.

 

Things like this happen at times but I'm glad you are learning on how to work on things like this. Before long, you will be able to this job in your sleep.

There's one hole in the housing and it's quite small. I don't think there's anyway to get all 4 brushes out of the way to get the armature back in.

 

I've looked around the internet and found some tutorials for rebuilding starter motors, but it seems like they're able to access the brush assembly without cutting ************ apart.

Got it sorted. Apparently I was temporarily blind and didn't see the 2 phillips head screws on the back of the housing. I almost stripped the head of one of the screws getting it out though.

 

Also, found a good way of getting the armature back in. Take a 3/4 socket and place it over the bearing at the end. The back of the socket is tapered so you can get the brushes around it pretty easily. Then just ease it in slowly and it'll slide past the socket and onto the commutator.

 

Yay! Thanks for the quick replies guys.

Glad you figured it out and got it back together.

Last time I replaced the starter on my own 87 wagon, I took off that cover and out dumped about a quarter-cup of black metal burned garbage. :-\

 

And the armatures were BLACK, not copper-colored.

 

Yeah...I guess it was time to get a new one.