Quote:
Originally Posted by bennelson
If anyone has experience with TRUCK starters, please chime in, but if they are ANYTHING like car starters they are not the right thing to use.
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Most truck starters 'till recently (before they switched to tiny gear-reduction style starters) have been made by Delco. The motors are approx 5" diameter and 12" long and they are 12V, not 24V. They can handle a TON of amps, for about 30 seconds, and by then they are about 200 degrees F. Most are rated at 8500W, which equals about 700A @ 12V. They are not cooled in any way other than conduction through the case, as they are sealed to keep bad things out. They also spin fast, about 2000 rpm at 12V at 700A, so they would have to spin ridiculously fast if you wanted to over-volt them to 48V or whatever. They have a ball bearing at the tail end but only a bushing at the drive end. And they are very heavy, approx 40-50 lbs.
I am sure they could be modified to work in a motorcycle:
-Cut holes and add a fan or make a water jacket for cooling
-Remove the Bendix drive and solenoid and add a proper drive-end support bearing
Obviously these mods would cost 10X more than a decent purpose built motor. Even then I doubt it would work very well.