Easiest Way to Take Out the Starter

[Old Geezer Richard]

 My friend John in Kerrville , just bought a 98 Tourer with under 7,000 miles on the clock and thinks he has a Hydrolocke Problem , when he goes to start it , it just makes a click and of course it don't start .... He took out the plugs and rocked the bike in high gear and gas did come out one of the cylinders , I believe he told me one of the # 3 middle cylinder ..... So John can read this post , what is the simplest way for him to take the starter out without getting fustrated to check out the gear teeth and anything else  .... He's finding very little room to back out the starter  ..... Thanks the Geezer   

[Bone]

I've never tried to remove one. Below is a copy / paste from the manual.

Disconnect the starter motor cable.
Remove the three motor mounting bolts.
Pull out the starter motor rearward and remove it from the
crankcase, being careful not to damage the wire harness.
Remove the O-ring from the starter motor.

[John Schmidt]

I ended up removing the battery box, made it easier since it provided more room to the rear. No fun regardless of the method used, I felt it more of a PITA than replacing the alternator.

[hubcapsc]

The starter is real hard to get off, but you don't have to
cut the frame  or anything, it is just hard to wiggle
it out. And it is hard to put it back on too, kind of like
the alternator.

The hot wire to the starter has a doubled set of
nuts on the post, locked together. They're low profile
nuts, you can't hold the bottom one with a regular-thickness
wrench. The post is really just a bolt, the head is held
in a plastic slot inside the starter. I didn't have a low
profile wrench, so I tried to turn just the top lock nut.
The bolt-head spun in the slot, and broke the plastic
part inside the starter. This particular plastic part has
no part number on the fiche, you can't buy it.

Get a low profile wrench to hold the bottom nut,
and then loosen the top nut.

-Mike

[MarkT]

I bought Harbor Freight wrenches and other hand tools just for when I need to modify one.  Weld & grind; I have a number of custom modified tools for such cases. Doesn't take long with an angle grinder though quench it frequently so as not to ruin the temper.

[hubcapsc]

I bought Harbor Freight wrenches and other hand tools just for when I need to modify one.  Weld & grind; I have a number of custom modified tools for such cases. Doesn't take long with an angle grinder though quench it frequently so as not to ruin the temper.

I ground down a cheap wrench when installing my "new" Pinwall
starter... worked great  ...

-Mike

[Old Geezer Richard]

Thanks Guy's , John was telling me that he has one of those small snake like camera's to take a lookinside to determine if any of the gear teeth might be broke off , hopefully not ....  If he's Lucky and has No Damage then he will have to yank out the Carb Bank and work on those Carb's and replace or rebuild the Petcock so no more leaking ... I mmention to him that maybe taking the battery box might give some more wiggle room .... Thanks the Geezer   

[John Schmidt]

I bought Harbor Freight wrenches and other hand tools just for when I need to modify one.  Weld & grind; I have a number of custom modified tools for such cases. Doesn't take long with an angle grinder though quench it frequently so as not to ruin the temper.

I ground down a cheap wrench when installing my "new" Pinwall
starter... worked great  ...

-Mike

Stop by a bicycle shop that sells biking stuff, they'll have all kinds of flat wrenches for sale. I picked up a couple some time back for just the reason mentioned. Be sure to measure the wrench opening before buying, some aren't real accurate.

[hubcapsc]

I bought Harbor Freight wrenches and other hand tools just for when I need to modify one.  Weld & grind; I have a number of custom modified tools for such cases. Doesn't take long with an angle grinder though quench it frequently so as not to ruin the temper.

I ground down a cheap wrench when installing my "new" Pinwall
starter... worked great  ...

-Mike

Stop by a bicycle shop that sells biking stuff, they'll have all kinds of flat wrenches for sale. I picked up a couple some time back for just the reason mentioned. Be sure to measure the wrench opening before buying, some aren't real accurate.

I have an el-cheapo old set of "ignition wrenches" that are flat too.

Those park tool$ for bikes are nice...

-Mike

[twowguy]

Thanks Guy's , John was telling me that he has one of those small snake like camera's to take a lookinside to determine if any of the gear teeth might be broke off , hopefully not ....  If he's Lucky and has No Damage then he will have to yank out the Carb Bank and work on those Carb's and replace or rebuild the Petcock so no more leaking ... I mmention to him that maybe taking the battery box might give some more wiggle room .... Thanks the Geezer   

I wish him good luck, I also bought one recently with the same problem, only 8000 miles on it. Mine has two gears stripped on the direct drive and in the process of stripping gears it broke a piece out of the rear casing. My engine is currently on a work bench, I'm in the process of making special tools to enable me to remove the rear case. So far all the carbs I opened had stuck float valves. I still have 3 more to go. I'm taking pictures as I go along. I'll be posting my work when I get to make the engine purr again. Would be interesting to see how much damage he got.

[Michvalk]

I found the easiest way to remove a starter, is to hire someone else to do it. No special tools required, and no skinned knuckles

[big poppa pump]

Pulled the starter motor out yesterday, took an entire 15 minutes without any cussing. Confirmed Hydrolock, about 7-8 broken teeth. Time to pull the engine out and replace the starter gear....

[Fazer]

Pulled the starter motor out yesterday, took an entire 15 minutes without any cussing. Confirmed Hydrolock, about 7-8 broken teeth. Time to pull the engine out and replace the starter gear....

So, getting the starter off is not too bad, but getting the starter gear out is a bit more work...