2001 sportsman 500 HO

I've been having trouble starting my engine lately. The starter turns the engine over very slowly and sometimes not at all, just a click. The battery is only a yr old and I'm guessing it's not that , but I haven't checked it yet.
How can I tell if I have an OEM polaris starter? Are they worth rebuilding? Are the DB electrical starters any good?

Thanks

 

I'd load test the battery first just to eliminate it as the problem. They don't like cold weather anymore than they like hot temperatures.Plus you can check that power is jumping to the starter wire from the solenoid. Maybe it's the problem. Mitsuba is the oem starter.It's marked on the starter. Even have one on my old Honda,plus a lot of Hondas,Yamahas and other machines use them. Good starters,but if my old starter was to go out,I wouldn't pay 350 bucks for a new one.I'd get a DB. You can go all the way from the cheap 50 buck starter up to the 2 year warrantied one for a little over 100 bucks including the starter bendix. Or you can take your chances on a 15 buck brush kit and rebuild yours and hope it lasts. We tried that for awhile and had a local machine shop rebuild them,turn the armature,replace bearings, brush kits,etc,but they didn't hold up. We then started carrying"aftermarket" starters from Parts Unlimited and sold them for half the price of the oem ones we kept in stock.Sold a bunch of these over the years.. Can't remember if any of them came back,but don't think so. Who knows,could have been from the same supplier for DB or similar companies. DB Electrical - Sportsman

 

Thanks for the advice OPT! It has been cold here lately, real cold. -40 celcius with the wind chill.....yesterday it almost rained though....quite a temp change? ......no worries though, it's back down to -35 celcius tonight!
I did see the price of the OEM ones.....wow!! I'll go with DB if I need one but I do have the check the battery and connections first.....thanks again!

Kevin

 

I guess it's considered balmy down here today. 27 degrees(-2) sleet and ice on the roads.We get all the left over sloppy mess from you northern boys pretty white snow.