Mystery Click Solved

[Micksan]

The other day I posted about a clicking sound that developed , when I tried to start the bike. It was a occasional thing but getting more frequent. I checked the battery, and replaced the relay with my spare. The starter had been rebuilt recently.
I stopped down at the starter shop, and they knew exactly what it was. When tightening the nut that holds the battery cable in place , you can turn the post. This in turn will throw a internal contact out of alignment. To prevent this you need to use a back up wrench to hold the bottom nut in place. I had to grind a 13 mm wrench to thin out the open end jaws end.
One other cause can be from vibration, which I believe would come from not tightening the nuts down enough.

 

[TURBO200R4]

hi
doesn't sound right. as a mechanic you always tighten the first nut then put on the cable connector then washer then hold cable and tighten. the stud is held internally at the base.
herman

 

[Micksan]

hi
doesn't sound right. as a mechanic you always tighten the first nut then put on the cable connector then washer then hold cable and tighten. the stud is held internally at the base.
herman

A couple of days ago I would have totally agreed with you. I have installed my share of starters over the years. Here is the deal. Some if not most have a square hole in the starter housing , then the bottom nut to hold it in place .
Then we have ours which has a round threaded shank. The bottom nut us suppose to hold it in place , but when you have a heavy handed wrenches like me it will turn the shank if the bottom bolt is not held in place.
I was told it is not that uncommon. They even have little tags telling you to put a backup wrench on. All I am doing is passing the info along .

 

[Dawg68]

Thanks for the info. I've seen a bit of this on euro generators ( with respect to rebuilding the starters)while I was overseas working in the field.

 

[budman]

good tip..thanks for the post..glad ya got it straight.