Flathead Starter Brush Assembly???

OhioRick

OhioRick

Senior Member
Ok I give up... I pulled a starter off a 40 flatty and the brushes popped off the armature. How and the heck do you reinstall these things?
I disassembled the access band on the body of the unit but even then I can't figure out how to hold the brushes in place to slide the armature back in. How do you hold the brush clips back?? yikes...no room in there.
What a pain... Special Ford Tool?
 
It should be about the same as installing the brushes on a Model A starter. I use a 6" piece of coat hanger. Bend a loop in the hand held end, and bent a 1/4" 90* end of the other end. Actually bend it just a bit more than 90*, so you can hook the spring and pull back along with retracting the brush under that spring. Now you can push the end cap on just enough to grab and hold that one brush back. Keep pressure on the end cap, so you don't loose that retracted brush and do the same to the next brush. Keep working around until you have all 4 brushes retracted.

Once you've done this a couple times, it really isn't too bad to do.
 
There is also another method I often use. I set each of the brushes cocked on the outer edge of the brush holder, with the spring against it. I then slip the end cap into position and use a needle nose plier to pull each brush into position so it slides all the way in, and check the spring to make sure it's centered on the brush, so the pressure is in the middle and not off to the side. I've taken some starters apart where the brushes were worn quite slanted due to a poorly positioned spring.
 
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