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Paul Bennett · 04-10-2019, 11:26 PM

Having spent considerable time doing things wrong plus having convered a starter to 12v, I consider myself a starter expert. The danger is opening up the starter end plates slightly too far and pop goes the brushes out of their working position. Placing them back is a pain. (a day's work)

HOW TO remove a starter:

Remove the cable.
Remove the outer bolt, keeping the inner one tight.
Find a nut which fits that rod.
Put the rod back in place in the starter but do NOT thread it into the engine. Instead,
Carefully loosen the inner rod about1/4" maximum, keeping the end plates tight against the starter. I use a large screwdriver and gently pry the end plate against the engine so as you slowly loosen that inner rod.
The object here is to remove the starter from the engine while keeping starter end plates tight so the brushes don't go wrong. Emphasizing. Pry the whole starter back just enough to put that nut on rod which you earlier removed from the starter but just put back in.
I use needle nose pliers to hold the nut, threading it onto the rod while loosening the other rod from the engine.
The object is to use that outer rod to keep the end plates tight against the starter. This is to prevent those pesky brushes from going awry.
With that rod tightened against the end plates, you can now unscrew the other rod from the engine.
By maneuvering the now loose but heavy starter around the bendix up/down hung up on the flywheel gear, you can remove the starter.
Putting another nut on the back rod is recommended.

For super quality reasonable price battery cables, I highly recommend Battery Cables USA

All that said, you don't need to remove the starter to change the cables.
Also, you don't need to change the wiring to change polarity. The starter will turn in right direction regardless of pos/gnd or neg/gnd.

In addition, for good current flow, you don't need to put a lug in the starter rod. The dual rods are quite adequate to flow current into the engine blocks and there are better engine bolts to put the chassis wire than to use a starter rod.

I do hope my word pictures are in focus, i.e. clear enough.

04-10-2019, 11:26 PM	#7
Paul Bennett Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2016 Posts: 628	Re: New Battery Cables Having spent considerable time doing things wrong plus having convered a starter to 12v, I consider myself a starter expert. The danger is opening up the starter end plates slightly too far and pop goes the brushes out of their working position. Placing them back is a pain. (a day's work) HOW TO remove a starter: Remove the cable. Remove the outer bolt, keeping the inner one tight. Find a nut which fits that rod. Put the rod back in place in the starter but do NOT thread it into the engine. Instead, Carefully loosen the inner rod about1/4" maximum, keeping the end plates tight against the starter. I use a large screwdriver and gently pry the end plate against the engine so as you slowly loosen that inner rod. The object here is to remove the starter from the engine while keeping starter end plates tight so the brushes don't go wrong. Emphasizing. Pry the whole starter back just enough to put that nut on rod which you earlier removed from the starter but just put back in. I use needle nose pliers to hold the nut, threading it onto the rod while loosening the other rod from the engine. The object is to use that outer rod to keep the end plates tight against the starter. This is to prevent those pesky brushes from going awry. With that rod tightened against the end plates, you can now unscrew the other rod from the engine. By maneuvering the now loose but heavy starter around the bendix up/down hung up on the flywheel gear, you can remove the starter. Putting another nut on the back rod is recommended. For super quality reasonable price battery cables, I highly recommend Battery Cables USA All that said, you don't need to remove the starter to change the cables. Also, you don't need to change the wiring to change polarity. The starter will turn in right direction regardless of pos/gnd or neg/gnd. In addition, for good current flow, you don't need to put a lug in the starter rod. The dual rods are quite adequate to flow current into the engine blocks and there are better engine bolts to put the chassis wire than to use a starter rod. I do hope my word pictures are in focus, i.e. clear enough.