300/440/550 Quick question about a js 550 starter motor...need help

[PWCGuy]

Taking my starter apart on a js 550 (85'). So I took the snap ring out (which is above the spindle where the collar sits) and the collar is supposed to slide off to disassemble the armature but the collar is stuck like there is another snap ring in there but I dont see one....it wiggles and is free but won't go past where it was before when the snap ring was on.

How do you get this thing apart?

 

[TheBuzzard]

the snap ring probably raised a bit of metal up on the shaft, from the bendix hitting it all those years and so now it wont just slide off. take a file and file the shaft on top of the groove, making the shaft the origninal diameter, so the bendix slides off.

 

[PWCGuy]

the snap ring probably raised a bit of metal up on the shaft, from the bendix hitting it all those years and so now it wont just slide off. take a file and file the shaft on top of the groove, making the shaft the origninal diameter, so the bendix slides off.

BRILLIANT! I knew someone would give me some good advice, and thank you! I will give that a shot and see how it goes.

I don't know how much you know about these starters, but that snap ring is not much of a snap ring. It seems more like a metal spring material and was a B***H to get off. Took me about an hour to finally figure out you can hit the collar down the shaft with a hammer to better access it. Anyways, can you replace this with a "real" snap ring of the same size? Or is this some fancy high strength snap ring that needs to be that tough?

 

[TheBuzzard]

its just a keeper ring that fits in the groove. then the collar slides over that , to keep it in place. they are a bitch and i wouldnt try and put something else in its place. i'm not sure that starter is ever going to work good enough to use anyway, even after you with it.