RE: Starter

[Jim Grammer <jimg@domain.elided>]

>The starter in my 1950 L-120 has stopped turning.  The baterry is good,
>any sugestions.  Does anyone have info on converting it to 12V?
>TIA
>Tom
>50 L-120

Funny thing, Tom, I rebuilt the 6V starter on my Farmall Cub this weekend, 
and a lot of it will apply to your 6V Delco starter. The only real 
difference is the tractor unit has an inertial Bendix instead of a seperate 
starter solenoid. My starter was drawing down every last CCA from a new 
NAPA 6V battery, and smoking a little bit. On teardown, I discovered rust 
and other corrosion on the stator poles, a bunch of dirt and rust on the 
brush carrier assemblies, carbon on the brush faces and armature poles, and 
a damaged feed cable to one of the brushes. All the dirt and rust were 
dispatched with Scotch Brite and spray electric motor cleaner. I could have 
replaced the brushes(listed at NAPA), but they weren't in stock and I 
needed to use the tractor, so they got the Scotch Brite treatment along 
with the armature. A thorough flush of everything with electric motor 
cleaner, and a quick repair to the frayed brush feed cable(make sure the 
brush feed cables aren't arcing on the brush carrier frame next door), and 
back together it went after blowing everything dry with compressed air and 
putting a dab of grease in the bushing cup. I knew there was still some 
motor cleaner in the cloth covering of the stator windings, so I wasn't 
surprised to see a fair amount of smoke when I first fired it up. I was 
surprised to see my cranking speed go up about 1000%!

On the Delco starters, one big culprit seems to be the OEM seal covering 
the big holes at the brush frame end of the starter. A metal band holds a 
fiber gasket over the openings. The fiber gasket drys out and allows 
moisture into the assembly, hastening rust/corrosion. Mine's getting a new 
gasket cut from rubber.

Jim