6th time is a charm.....

[Dirty T]

I have recently become a XB starter expert.

After having a few problems with my starter and having a Chinese knock off for cheap leave me with a leak that no one has ever seen here is what i have been through.

Replaced starter with new one just before our ride to hells gate. had a small leak, no big deal. went to go to work the next morning and had a puddle under the bike. Figured it was a leak from the gasket so i took it out and replaced the gasket.

Went to work, came home.......next morning. PUDDLE! WTF?

That weekend took starter out of bike and inspected it. was leaking primary fluid out of the starter. had to go to work so i put the old starter back in so i could investigate why this was happening.

No leak all week. HMMMMM.

That week tries to get RARE ELECTRICAL to send me another starter and or pay for the shipping...NO response.

I got all fed up and took the new starter apart and found that the o-ring was missing at the main support bearing was not there. so i put the old nose cone of my original starter on the new one and replaced the starter once again.

Took it to work....ANOTHER LEAK AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now i am ready to set this thing on fire........

Finally yesterday. i took both starters apart. completely striped them down to there individual components to compare the physical differences.

As i compared them both. the original starter has a o-ring seal and another seal at the jack shaft sealing it from the primary fluid. the new one had nothing.

And another think that really bothered me. the "sealed" bearing that is actually in the primary wasn't actually a sealed bearing but just a loose dust shield. and if that wasnt enough, it has a broken cage as well.

So lesson learned .......the $140 starter was really not that good of a deal...4 quarts of redline atf, 40+ hours of labor and a really big mess in my shop.

On a good note i have lots of spare parts if anyone needs anything just let me know. I am what you would call an "EXPERT"

[Black Lightning]

I always thought an expert was a guy from Toronto with a brief case.