Ballistictiger
Member
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A year ago I ordered a Ricks Starter for my Tiger 800 (after the brushes on the stock Denso wore and damaged the Commutator)
After a short while the starter acted up before a ride, I took it to a starter shop and they said it was weird that the brush holder flipped and broke and repair cost me $190 (also the cause of stress and not full spline contact on the idler gear I later found out)
Then on a ride shortly after, far from home, It wouldn't start and sometimes made a screeching noise and would not start ( I thought Sprague and checked when home)
I bump started it to get home the 800km and found that the Starter spline was only making contact with the Idler gear 75% and putting stress on the gears and sheared off 3/4 of the teeth in places on the idler
So I have had over $1000 labour taking it in/out all this time
purchase of starter from Ricks
Now having to buy a new expensive Idler gear and worrying about broken gears in the engine
Wasted a new oil change and filter
Plus need a new starter that makes full contact with the Idler gear the bike is apart and down again, waiting (and the season is winding down)
I contacted Ricks last night and am waiting to hear how they will help me (if at all)
I don't know if they have rectified this issue since and am waiting to hear back
To anyone who has put a Ricks Starter on your bike
I would recommend a quick easy check that wont loose any oil and lay the bike down on its side
Undo the Stator side cover and check and see if your starter is making full contact with your idler gears, before you have a potentially bad situation like I am experiencing
UPDATE
Ricks got back to me showing me with pictures and measurements comparing there NEW DESIGN starter to the Denso one as being the same (as I had showed them pictures and calipher measurements that there OLD DESIGN was not the same)
They sent me out a new one out ASAP (thank you for that) and I checked before installing
I took off the Magneto cover before starting again to make sure it meshed with the idler gear and it does


I just wish that they got it right the 1st time before all the stress ,costs and downtime , I had begun to think this was a Triumph design flaw and was thinking of getting rid of it, till I found the problem- now I still worry about the broken idler gears that I couldn't locate coming loose at sometime and causing major damage
The new starter sounds different and much quieter than the old design

I would recommend anyone with the OLD DESIGN starter
Buy a magneto cover gasket
Lay your bike on its side
remove the magneto cover and inspect if you are getting full contact on the idler gear
IF IT DOES NOT
I recommend you stand it up
drain the oil
Order a new starter and remove the current one
Pull off the idler ring gear and see if there was any damage to the inside gears in contact (The old starter was also tilted, along with not making full contact, which tore the gears apart)
wrap heat reflective tape around the new starter
Clean the contacts with sandpaper or a small file
If it's the 1st time installing a Ricks starter you need to drill a 1/4" hole in the mount end (I like the Ricks mount over the original better)
Install the new starter
check to see if it meshes with the idler gear as it should,
put the gasket and oil back in and hopefully never have that problem again
I was told by the starter company that repaired my original Denso (to no avail) and my old design Ricks Starter once, that you should take apart any starter and clean the dust out before it shorts out (I am not sure how many kms I will wait to do that)