Well everything has been going good on the Vbike 250 cc utility since I got it in Feburary until this morning. I went up on a mountain here and was going to check out an old homestead for a possible site to do some metal detecting . Got everything loaded on the 4 wheeler and got on and hit the starter button and and ching,clang, chunck and it locked up only the solenoid would click. Took the cap off the end of the starter and couldnt find anything wrong no pieces no chunks nothing put it all back together and it started to rain and sprinkle or two. Hit the starter again and then it went whizzzzzzzzzzzzzzz clunk ching. Already wet I tied it back down on the trailer and headed home. I took the starter off and the teeth on the end of the armature was stripped out all around . I called Tim at Vbike and he said box it up and send it over I will put another in the mail.
Those that have had problems with the Vbike on repairs said he was good to his word. Guess time will tell . Seems the teeth on the small gear on the armature is of really soft metal . The other teeth on the big gears show no sign of wear or chipping. Just that one little gear on the end of the starter . Too bad when the engineers designed it they didnt make the gear by its self so only it would have to be replaced instead of the whole starter assembly.
Well its grounded now until I see how well the warrenty and parts supply at Tim's work

 

Sorry to here that leesumm, maybe someday there will be a quaility replacement gear available. Makes me want to take my starter off and see if any rebuilder shops have a starter gear that matches.

How often do you normally use your ATV? Might use that info to gauge how long my starter gear will last.

 

"How often do you normally use your ATV? Might use that info to gauge how long my starter gear will last.
Coloradotrailrider"

Thats the biggest ?? I dont know how much I have used it , since this one dont have an hour meter or any type of an odometer. I can only rough guess that its had maybe a total of a weeks use' in the last few months.
As far as the starter gear its a tooled gear on the end of the starter armature. The whole starter has to be replaced not just the gear. For future use and reference I think when I get one back I will go to a cycle junk yard here and see if they can recognize the starter and hopefully it will match something that has a replaceable gear . Then if it ever happens again I can mill off the gear put a key lock and just replace the gear alone . Or this might just be one of those quirky little things that happens one in a thousand and wont ever happen again . I know for the amount of use I had on it , it didnt last long enough.

 

leesumm,
Take a look at Ebay and search Honda 200 or 250 starters. There are some 200cc Honda starters that are very close if not the same bolt pattern. A used Honda starter might be a better replacement than the cheap chinese model. I believe our 250cc ATV engines were modeled after Honda 200cc motorcycle engines from the early 80's, and re-geared for 4-speed and reverse. I have noticed also that many of the steel bolts are made of a softer steel, and I would bet if the starter is made in China then they probably use lower grade steel parts in it also. Best of luck.....

Slydog

 

The China starter and the Honda starter sure do look alike. The first pic is the China starter and the second is the Honda.

 

Ok, finally got the starter back today from Tim's. Put it on and bolted everything up . Hit the starter button and zinnnnnnnnnnnnnnnggggggggggggggg. Nothing . Sounded like the starter wasnt engageing. No metal grinding no clunk, chunk bang bang noise just the sound of the starter and some gears. I pulled the little cover off the side of the engine on the outside of the starter and the starter is spinning in a counter clockwise revolution, with the larger gear turning in a clock wise rev. The little gear on the engine side is turning clock wise . I dont know how or why but it seems the starter is turning the opposite direction it should . I could use some help but on Sat. nothing. Guess its more wait time untill Monday and another phone call to Tim.

 

I would inspect the gear that comes out from behind that little cover you pulled off. If it's ok then I would pull the entire side cover off the engine and inspect the other gear that turns the engine flywheel gear. In the second picture below, note the hidden bolt behind the starter gear end cover. This bolt needs to be removed in addition to the other side cover bolots to get the whole side cover off if that is whats needed.

 

Yeh I went that far , almost I couldnt get the full cover off the side of the engine. What really puzzles me is the starter gear turns in a counter clockwise rev. the gear on the small cover turns a clockwise rev. then the small gear inside the engine side turns a clockwise. When I hit the stater button the larger gear in the small case spins but does nothing. It wont engage the engine to crank it

 

Look at the first picture in my last post. I havn't taken mine apart yet but I'm thinking that the double gear behind that small cover possibly has a spring between the bigger and smaller gear. I wonder if the small gear is stuck on the shaft and wont fly out to engauge the engine start gear. If so a little penetrating spray might take care of it.

Even though our engines may have different manufacturers, they are all almost identical as far as starters and how it works. If I get a chance I will pull my small starter cover off today to see if the gears behind it have a centrifigal actuated bendix gear like I am suspecting.

 

Hey leesumm, I popped my starter end cover and pulled the double gear out. I gave my starter a try to see what direction it turned. Looking at the gear end of the starter it turns clockwise!

There dosn't apear to be a spring loaded bendix gear like I thought. If your starter is turning counterclockwise then it will just sit there and spin gears all day without turning the engine over, like what yours is doing. The gear in the engine side cover will engauge the flywheel in one direction but will just freewheel in the other direction.

The starter for sure needs to spin in a clockwise rotation.