OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Repairs and Maintenance Questions on Engines Questions on Other Engines 15 teeth starter motor replacement

ive got a 13hp rato engine http://www.ratoaustralia.com.au/products/vertical-engines/rv340-detail
and the starter motor is on the fritz, its a 15 tooth motor, was wondering if i can replace it with a 14 tooth motor or a 16 tooth, or does it absolutely need to be a 15 tooth starter motor.

I assume you know that is a chonda version of the Honda GXV340, and most parts will be interchangeable.

It is unlikely that a starter pinion with a different number of teeth will mesh properly with the ring gear. To do so it would have to have been custom-designed with some unusual tooth form corrections, which would make it a bit gruesome anyway, but more realistically it will have been designed for a different center distance. It might or might not work well enough for a lawnmower - I've known of people doing it with Lister diesel engines and having it last for a while, though not very happily, and of course it destroyed the ring gear eventually. However the length of life expected from Lister diesels is probably about 20 times as long as the life expected from a lawnmower.

so just an update for those paying attention, the starter motor insides look like a late model honda gv390 starter, it has a flat commutator like mine, but the mounting holes are different, i could find the actual armature part, but it would cost too much to buy it without knowing if it was actually going to fit.

What I ended up doing is rewinding the entire starter motor, removing all the old wire, cleaning it up and rewinding it with new wire, it was actually pretty straight forward, and now it runs pretty damn good, plus ive got enough copper wire left to wind it a few more times if it burns out again.

As to it burning out, it looks like it is my solenoid on the way out, as directly hooking up the battery starts it easily, but from the solenoid you can tell its not getting enough power to turn over the engine

Check your valve clearances while you have it apart. Nothing is more common as a cause of poor start performance than incorrect valve clearances. It can cause overloading on the entire start system if they aren't right.