replacing a starter motor - difficult?

 Hello,

Can any of you guys tell me, in your opinion, how difficult a job
is it to replace a starter motor on triumph trident 900 (1982 model)?

I have very little experience at motorcycle maintenance.

Would it be better and still reasonably cheap paying someone else
to replace the starter motor for me?

thanks in advance

Pete

 wrote:

Easy for me, if it's really the starter. Just two bolts with 10mm
heads hold it in and there's a 10mm nut holding the starter cable onto
the starter. Disconnect the cable, remove the two bolts, slide the
starter out and put the new or repaired starter back in the same hole.

Once the starter is out, you can open it up and replace the brushes.
You can see all the inexpensive internal parts on www.bikebandit.com >
OEM parts > Triumph > Trident > all serial numbers > alternator/
starter.


Triumph started making 900cc Tridents around 1992. They are called
"Hinkley Tridents" to distinguish them from the classic original
Trident that was made until about 1971.

Does your starter make a whining sound, but the engine doesn't crank?

If so, it's not the starter, it's a worn out "Spragg" clutch, which is
a kind of bearing that only turns freely in one direction, turning it
the other way causes it to lock up so it can be used as a starter
clutch.

Triumph had a lot of trouble with Sprag clutches in earlier models.
They did a lot of warranty and even out-of-warranty repairs to keep
the good will of the customers.

Sprag clutches are a stupid concept, because they still wear out when
they aren't being used to start the engine, which is 99.999% of the
time.

To replace the "Spragg" clutch with the new and improved part, the
engine has to be removed from the frame and the crankcases probably
have to be split.

That's not a job for an amateur. You can see the ridiculously
complicated starter clutch mechanism on www.bikebandit.com also.

The reason for making this Rube Golderberg starter drive was so they
could use a car-type alternator, driven by a gear off the crankshaft.
Yamaha, Kawasaki, Triumph, and Rotax all used the same stupid design
on certain models.


If the problem is really with the starter (it doesn't turn at all)
it's easy enough to remove. You'll probably just need a 10mm or 11mm
socket, a ratchet, maybe a short extension, and a 10mm or 11mm box end
wrench.

Can you hear the starter solenoid clicking and then going "gr-r-r-
r..."? That indicates a battery problem.