800 small starter
 

Hello to all, new member here. I've been browsing around for a few days now and this is one heck of a great site! I have an 800 that a friend gave me a few years ago and recently decided to get her going as my wife and I just bought our first house and I don't wont give $2000 for a new throw away mower (as I call em). My 800 is a little rough but still a solid machine for the most part. I need some advice on the "small" starter, my armature windings are bad and from what ive gathered they are hard to come by. What are your thoughts on having it rewound vs the bigger starter and does anyone have an idea of what a rewind might cost? I really don't want to cut the frame and go to the bigger starter but if I do go that route does anyone have info or pics on the correct way to cut it or should I just keep wrapping a rope around the clutch assembly and pull starting it?

First welcome to OCC... :Welcome2:

Well, here is what I found.

OEM: KH-41-098-02
Vendor : UT AMBAC09680-27-M020SM

Kohler states the KH-41-098-02 is NLA and does NOT offer a replacement.

Cub Cadet states to use the KH-41-098-08 as the starter for the 800.

Will do more research and see what is going on.

Let me break out my Rosetta stone.

Research complete.......

Seems, the original starter was problematic, with numerous failures. Hence the reason, they are NLA.

The replacement is a bigger (physically) and works far better.

So, you have three choices:
(A) Get lucky and find a NOS starter.
(B) Have the starter repaired by a "competent" repair shop.
(C) Buy the new upgraded starter and notch out the frame.

Anyone have pics of what needs to be done to the frame? Just curious, I'd like to see both the small and large starters just to learn.

I have the big starter on my 800 and it was not cut. The "lip" of the frame was bent out in one small area to accept

Sam,
Here's a pic of the small, original starter for an 800. This was my old 800 that went down the road. On the larger starters, the lip of the frame needs to be notched so the starter fits in. I've seen good notching, and notching where it looks like the guy took a butter knife, hammer and torch to it.

Josh

Thanks for the pics. I would guess it could be trimmed with a cut off wheel in a die grinder pretty easily. Save the cut out part for a future restore and if needed welded back in so you'd never even notice. Just my 2 cents.

Save the starter too.

Good point, I should have said that. :beerchug:

I'm good with mods as long as you can return it to original unless it's just never going to be worth trying to restore. Stuff like 800's even I would have a hard time cutting up. :beerchug:

We all have different thoughts on things which is fine, but my thoughts would be to get the starter rebuilt to keep things original and then look for a different cub for the chores around your place. I say this simply because of the rarity of the 800. Then when time and $$$ come around, you could restore the 800 and be proud of it. You don't have to spend a fortune to get a good cub, just last year I bought a super nice 1210 with 650 hours for 5 bills. Just a thought and strictly MY opinion.

Dave

I took the starter to a friend who works on em part time and he put new brushes in it and it still wouldn't work so he took it back apart while I was there and ohmed the armature at the commutater and it was open on 2 segments. That's why I asked if anyone had ever had an armature rewound. he didn't know how much that would cost. Just an FYI for anyone who needs brushes for the small starter, he used brushes that fit a boat power trim unit with just a little filling to make them fit in the brush holder however I failed to ask specifics about type but I will see him again soon and post that info if anyone is interested. I don't really want to alter the frame because of the rarity. I actually mowed with it some today and it did great. I just wrap a rope around the clutch assembly and she usually starts on the first pull. The tractor is missing a few things: side panels headlights and switch, choke cable, deck height cam knob, not sure if the muffle is stock, and I think the seat is aftermarket. Ill try to get some pics up tomorrow.

Ive used the rope trick a few times just to get by till I got a new part, just be careful.

I went by an armature shop in Chattanooga today and they said it would $500 plus to rewind it, so that's not gonna happen. Oh well

just talked to my friend that works for a company that repairs electric train engines and he said that $500 to rewind that is crazy, you need to get another opinion.

that's kinda what I thought too. I almost laughed at the guy.

I have two electric motor rewind shops in my town. I'll have to ask them if they would do a small starter. :bigthink:

Here are the mods I did to fit a big starter in and leave the tractor looking original. You do not need to cut the frame, but gently "roll" it out. When the side panel is installed, it overhangs the frame and you cannot even notice the change. You do need to notch a section from the lip of the side panel, but be careful to only cut back as far as the frame will cover. I picked up this "practice" for these big starters from Paul Bell on a 800 I got from him. Have done this a few times now with success. Attached is some photos of the mods before completely assembled, I will try to get some of the finished product soon

Frame picture

Side panel notch

Gentle roll of top lip of frame. Sorry, I am not sure how to upload more than 1 pic at a time

Finished Pictures. As you can tell, you cannot see any modifications

That's exactly what I did, never knew there was a write up on it. Even with the side panel knotching. Can't tell the differnece unless they are removed.

Nice tractors mlhoss. That 70 with rear blade is money, very nice