New Starter, Gotta Brag

I removed my starter, gear train, and battery when I was a kid in the 70's. Back then I was riding hard and looking to save weight. It never worked well anyway.
Today I just finished putting it back on. I used a Harley 4 coil stator body and 4 brush armature plate. Not hard at all. I upgraded all the cables to #6 welding cables, and
re-did the grounds per LAB's instructions. It spins the engine fast and fine.
It feels so good to get this all back together I just had to share. I like to kickstart it just to show off most of the time, but a stall in traffic will never be stressful again.

Here's a pic of the geartrain:


The stiff alternator wire was pressing hard against the tensioner, so I made a hold-off out of a SS spoon handle:


Jaydee

That's a lovely sight for me to see as don't get to see ES guts in mine. I LOL on the SS spoon adaptation - double so as my ride bud Wes has adapted silver ware and clothes pin for his drum brake light. Only thing i know about ES is to always shop ahead for the next sprag thingy. I got to use an ES in city and rally so know the zing sensation of a thumb commensor on a kick start motorcycle.

For anyone with a concern about the Sprague, a good electronic ignition, set correctly, and properly sorted carbs are a huge factor in longevity.

Also, you can always kick it and press the button as you reach the bottom of the stroke; gives the starter a cranking-up assist, and keeps the bits whirling to "catch fire".

There's nothing inherently wrong with sprags - they are used in machinery of all types and sizes. They are in most automatic car trannys and I can't remember ever seeing one fail. The issue is simply one of using the proper spray (size-wise) for the job. Perhaps Norton went a bit small…

Does it throw in turning , or Pre Engage . Must be possable to get it to if not . Less violence on the poor little things .

They typically fail on kickback. Proper adjustment of the anti-reverse helps.

mike with over 35 years rebuilding automatic transmissions it is quit common to see sprag failures. it looks like there are more than one issue with the one norton uses. as jim pointed out lack of lube is one. kickback and or improperly set back fire device is also another.

mike996 said:

There's nothing inherently wrong with sprags - they are used in machinery of all types and sizes. They are in most automatic car trannys and I can't remember ever seeing one fail. The issue is simply one of using the proper spray (size-wise) for the job. Perhaps Norton went a bit small…

Click to expand...

Review a few of these for a sense of shopping now or not...like AAU's, speedodrives and tires.

https://www.google.com/#q=sprag+failure+accessnorton