starter motor, Elgin 30

[davidk]

I cooked a perfectly good starter motor on my 1957 Elgin 30 (West Bend) this weekend. It’s an American Bosch SMB6a53, then ink stamped 556? Any idea where I can look for a replacement? I don’t have a parts list for this motor so I don’t have the West Bend/Chrysler part number for it. I tried google with "american Bosch smb6a53"
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[auldscott]

How about getting it rewound? There might still be some shops doing that.

[david-bartlett]

David,

Is it positive ground?

[dave-bernard]

did you open it up yet. may need to be cleaned or just a broken wire or brushes or brush springs.

[frankr]

Matter of fact, they are positive ground. Won’t make any difference with the starter, but it sure as hang will matter with the charging system.

[davidk]

quote david bartlett:

David,

Is it positive ground?

Dave-
Rusty has suggested this to me several times but I dismissed him……because he’s Rusty. I don’t actually understand the implication of it being positive ground. The motor has the original wiring harness that has two leads for the battery. One is red tipped. One is black. So I put the red to the positive terminal. The motor starts…..well, started……and ran for a good 20 minutes.

Please give me a simpleton’s explanation (that’s to a simpleton, not from a simpleton) of what it means if the motor is positive ground.
-DK

[davidk]

quote Dave Bernard:

did you open it up yet. may need to be cleaned or just a broken wire or brushes or brush springs.

Dave-
I did open it up. It’s quite cooked in there. This motor had very few hours on it so the starter wasn’t worn or dirty…..but it’s both now.
-DK

[frankr]

quote DavidK:

quote david bartlett:

David,

Is it positive ground?

Dave-
Rusty has suggested this to me several times but I dismissed him……because he’s Rusty. I don’t actually understand the implication of it being positive ground. The motor has the original wiring harness that has two leads for the battery. One is red tipped. One is black. So I put the red to the positive terminal. The motor starts…..well, started……and ran for a good 20 minutes.

Please give me a simpleton’s explanation (that’s to a simpleton, not from a simpleton) of what it means if the motor is positive ground.
-DK

Simple: Positive battery terminal connects to the motor frame. Everything else comes off the negative terminal. That is just the opposite of nearly everything made since then. The starter will run with reversed polarity, but the rectifier will be destroyed.

[davidk]

Simple: Positive battery terminal connects to the motor frame. Everything else comes off the negative terminal. That is just the opposite of nearly everything made since then. The starter will run with reversed polarity, but the rectifier will be destroyed.[/quote]

So I still put the red lead on the positive terminal of the battery, right?

[frankr]

Yes, red lead on positive terminal of battery, and other end is grounded to engine frame. Heck, the cables could be pink and yellow, positive battery terminal is grounded is all that matters.

UM, now I’m wondering if that is a 6 Volt system (??anybody know??)

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