1937 Cord Starter

Thanks Dave for the center bushing information.. I'm having a hard time getting to the center bushing. I'm down to the nut on the shaft with the 4 notches in it. Have used heat but it wont spin loose. It appears to be right hand threads. May have to design a set of soft jaws to hold the aramature and then make a special deep socket to remove this nut.

The starter's center bushing is often found to be loose on the disc to which it attaches. I believe some of the Cord slow cranking can be attributed to this, as the armature gets inadequate support and alignment when it is loose. A shop I took my starter to years ago couldn't come up with the special bushing so they put it back together with the old one. I know better now. If you have a shop rebuild yours insist on a new bushing. NOS ones are still around, I recently bought one on ebay.

Thanks you for letting me know I was of help. I seldom know if what I post has help anyone. When I put our Westchester back together I had to find a place to get items, get items rebuilt and specifications for assembly. I have put this information into a form that I offer at the Tech Session which we put on at the West Coast Meet every year. If anyone would like a copy I can email it. My email address is in the ACD Directory. You should understand that the information in this listing has been accumulated over a number of years and the services and information described may no longer me available or relevant.

Hi,

Tom--thank you for this part number. I don't know the condition of my starter, but as of now it will be rebuilt with this improvement done!

--Tom

Thanks Tom for this great information on my starter. I probably will do just this. It still amazes me the more I know about these cars the less I really know. Its good people like you that make this site what it is.

I would suggest that you take it to a automotive electric shop to have it restored. In restoring it replace the field with a hi torque field. Doing this this will turn the engine over faster and make it start quicker. The part number is WIL 55-06-4419 PR 6V CCW. I got mine from Electric Motor Service Phone 800-697-6070. If you haven't yet improved you battery cables have them made with OO welding wire. The ground should be attached to a starter bolt for a good ground.

Well so far all those that have viewed this post have no comments. Makes me wonder why so much interest in a post but no comments. But thats no problem.
So far I have gotten most of the starter apart. Its really been an adventure in early mechanical invention to say the least. Appears 2 of the brushes are soldiered to the coils and the other 2 are screwed in. Interesting idea. I may remove the coils and use a soldering iron from early last century because it has a large heat sink on it. My other is more inline for small wire repairs. So after the brushe end is off the rotor has to be either pressed out or driven out of the body of the starter from the cone end. If a starter has been rusted up or been in a slat belt area all I can say is go slow and good luck. Mine still appears to have been rebuilt by the way everything looks inside. The nose cone will come off after the rotor and bendix drive is removed. To remove the bendix spring there are 2 bolts that have a fastener ben tab and those bolts are 5/8 hex. Really easy to remove. Now the really fun part. Getting the drive end off the shaft. There is a shell just behind the gear. It has 4 tabs around it and what holds that togehter is a snap ring that has no ends on it. Look really closely for the ends. Press down on them with a wide blade screw driver and use a very small screw driver blade to wedge the ring out of the groove carefully. There are a couple of springs under that shell too. I took plenty of pics to insure I remove and replace these parts correctly. Now the final fastener is a threaded nut that has 4 slots machined into it. Not sure yet is this is right or left hand threads. Also finding a way to hold the rotor without damage when removing this last fastener is a good idea. Clamping the rotor ends in a bench vice wont do even with soft jaws. I'm thinking a soft jaw clamp that will fit around the rotor. May have some engineering to do later. Its nap time here now. Hot day here and no ac in shop. Hope that changes soon but we will see.

So I'm trying to open up my starter and I'm not seeing how the drive and rotor come out. I have the case off so the rotor is ok. No wear on the fesh comutater either but it looks like the old brushes were put back in when the unit was rebuilt. Both of the bushings are good and tight too so I wont be replacing them. I just wanted to take the drive out to inspect it. I see the bendix srping all the time on ebay for around $15.00 so buying one of this as a spare sounds like a good idea. Anyone know how to remove the bendix from the housing?