Recently my 999 has started getting sluggish when turning over on start up. Checked all the connections,it has a new battery ,good leads and the starter solenoid seems to be working fine. Next port of call was to look at starter motor brushes. Can anyone tell me if the starter motor has to come out or can they be done in situ?
I took my 900ss starter out to do the same but I suspect it would be possible if a little fiddly to do them in situ. I would mark and tape the starter body to the engine side plate so it doesn’t move and/or you can realign it easily if it moves once you remove the end cap bolts. The end cap should only go on one way as there are tabs you need to line up but marking its alignment to the starter body won’t hurt. Ps don’t blame me if it turns into a PITA mare .
That's a good shout. There's nothing too loose in having a go with it in place first. Thanks for the letting me know what to look out for.
One more tip try to make a visual note of the brush plate alignment when you 1st remove the end cap as it will help when trying to figure out how it goes back in. It has tabs that fit into grooves inside the starter body from memory and if not aligned it won’t sit far enough into the starter for the end cap to fit fully.
I have wondered about doing this but more to clean up the commutator than to replace the brushes. However, with a set of Exiges leads and an AGM Yuasa it has proved totally unnecessary.
It's not so easy on the 999 as the older bikes. 999 starter motor has a support built into the end cap that is bolted thru a bush in the engine case. You'd need to rotate the end cap to clear the assembly. You have to remove the starter to get the end cover off and the brushes swapped
Have a look at this thread . There are some parts which might be useful for starter repair jobs in general . https://www.ducatiforum.co.uk/threads/1098r-starting-system-refurb-sprag-starter.73160/ I know it's not the same model , but the starters are all fairly similar . Removing the complete starter motor usually means removing the left-hand side engine cover , to get to one of the 3 mounting bolts , so oil and water need to be drained . As others have mentioned , it is possible to repair the starter without removing it .... but it takes a shed load of patient fiddling , in a VERY restricted space . I would warn people in the area of possible screaming , swearing and high velocity tools .....
