Starter Doesn't Work, Is It The Starter Though?

This happened to me several years ago. I bought an Allis Chalmers model C tractor that was having starter problems. So I thought to myself, 'Hey, I'm in the starter repair business, so I'm sure I can fix this one!'

The starter was dragging so much that it wouldn't hardly roll the engine over a revolution. I first did a load test on the battery to make sure it was good and not the cause and cleaned the cable connections and tried it. It still wouldn't crank properly, so I then removed the starter from the tractor and took it apart. It really wasn't that bad inside, so to make sure I wouldn't have any problems, I changed the wear parts like brushes and bushings. I tested the armature and turned the commutator and checked the field coils for shorts to ground. I also replace the little lever operated switch. Then after lubing it and reassembling it, I put it back on the tractor. It still was dragging and at the same time is now pissin' me off!!!

It pulled the battery down pretty quickly, so I charged it and tried it again. Still wouldn't work but I discovered that the ground cable was getting hot where it bolted to the frame. Since I had new cables handy, I replaced the battery cables and made sure the ground connection was clean. Damn thing still wouldn't work! OOOOooooooooo!!!!

After few choice words and a lot of head scratchin', I pulled the starter back off and went through it again thinking I've must of missed something. I found nothing wrong and reassembled it and put it back on the tractor. Then I thought 'Well, sometimes there are hidden problems that can't be detected with certain units and the only way to know for sure is to replace the starter. So I looked around the shop for a core or parts to build another one, but with no luck. Now mind you, this all is taking place over several months as I only have time to work on the tractor here and there! I would tinker with it now and then to see if I could figure it out without any luck either.

Finally.....The Battery Completely Died! I went and bought a new battery and installed it. That solved all my problems! It's worked great ever since and I sold the tractor to a guy who say's it's still running like a top. I discovered later that I should have cycled the load on the battery about three times to make sure it would hold up.

This just goes to show you that just because your starter doesn't work, it doesn't necessarily mean the starter is actually bad!