R2500 Starter

[BearKiller]

I have the starter off my 1972 R2500 off and apart.

I need a set of brushes or a GOOD used starter or a starter that has good brushes that I can use the rest of my parts to make a good starter.

Thanks.

Although it isn't back on the tractor yet, due to it raining a flood, I got it fixed and it works good when bench-tested.

It is a very long FRUSTRATING story.

The starter always worked fine, until the last three times I used it.

Twice, it acted just like a draggy battery; and, since the previous owner had supplied it with the smallest 12-volt battery known to man, and a Walmart one at that, I just figured it was indeed the battery.

The third and last time, even with my BIG jumper-cables and three-battery diesel truck to it, it would engage and barely wiggle the crank-shaft, then quit trying at all.

I pulled and dis-mantled the starter to find the two HOT brushes completely gone; just the springs and wires were all that was left.

The two NEGATIVE brushes look to be maybe half gone.

I diligently searched in vane for replacement brushes or another starter; all to no avail.

Then, on all the local advice, I took it to the starter shop, the closest and only one in several counties, forty miles away.

First trip = "come back at 3:00 and I'll have it fixed."

Second trip at 3:00 = still setting in the spot where I had left it --- un-touched.

I inquired about just selling me a set of too-large brushes and I would just make them fit myself = "leave it until next week and I will see what I can find."

Six days pass, so I call just to check progress = I have to explain all over just who I am and that they have had my starter all week = "call me tomorrow at 10:00 and I should have it."

Tomorrow at 10:00 = I call, then have to explain all over again the situation = "not been able to do any good" :ashamed:

Third and final trip = I go and get my starter, still setting un-touched where I had left it on trip number one.

At this point, I am remembering why I try to absolutely avoid involving anyone in any of my repairs as it almost always works out the same.


Back home, I am once again perusing the internet, clicking on anything that remotely resembles the brushes I need = a very time-consuming process, more frustrating when not all sellers provide the measurements.

Then, in desparation, I go into the shop and hunt up the used set of brushes that I had removed from one of our Dodge/Cummins starters.

BINGO!!!!!!!

The Cummins starter brushes are made identical to the ones in my Mitsubishi starter, only bigger in every dimension.

I picked the two that were most worn to be my guinea-pigs.

Maybe five minutes at my Harbor Freight 5-inch disc/belt bench-top sander yields me two very new looking starter brushes that fit the Mitsubishi starter like they were custom-made for it.

I'm getting excited now. :licking:

I solder the leads and re-assemble the starter.

I bench-test it with a battery and set of jumper-cables.

Everything works like new and I didn't spend a penny. :thumbsup:


I am still interested in a spare replacement starter to have on hand just in case.

Thanks everyone for your input.

 

[BearKiller]

Although it isn't back on the tractor yet, due to it raining a flood, I got it fixed and it works good when bench-tested.

I managed in between showers to get the starter back onto the tractor.

It cranks with authority. :thumbsup:

Starting RPM has surely doubled at the minimum.

Part of this increase in starting power can probably be contributed to me cleaning/shining all the solenoid contacts and plunger, along with polishing the commutator, plus the home-made brushes.


I have probably over-hauled three starters in my life, yet I fixed this rare case that the fifty-year-in-business starter-shop didn't seem to want to fool with, without spending a cent, if I don't count the three wasted trips to the shop and a bunch of phone-calls to same. :laughing:





I am still interested in a spare replacement starter to have on hand just in case.

Thanks everyone for your input.