1922 Gray Davis 540 starter non responsive - in a 22 Chandler

[PWN]

I bought it in 2006, newly rebuilt. It say until last year when I installed it on my 22 Chandler and it has been working fine til now. It is getting power, but make no noise. Nothing, when it stopped I heard an electrical sounding noise. No smell, nothing.

 

I just rebuilt my 92 Dodge cummings starter and I have worked on one for a 26 Franklin boattail, other than that I have no experience.

 

Is this something that I can open up and check brushes, etc.?

 

Does it have a solenoid? I think I answered my questions, the solenoid is at the starter button where the batter cable attaches? Would they be different for various 6V starters?

 

 

 

 This is the mail to the Chandler club when I found the starter.

 

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• Guests

 

Posted May 9, 2006

An amazing find, a starter for my 1922 Chandler RD. Took Glen 1.5 years but he found one. 385$ rebuilt and shipped. Must weigh 30 pounds.

I would reccomend Glen for any of your starter or alternator needs.

He also came up with the following info that was crucial to find the unit.

---No, its not a Bosch America its a Gray Davis 540, which was used on Chandler 20-21. What I researched out was, Bosch bought Gray Davis in 22 then Bosch was bought out by Auto-lite in 25. When I was looking at the field case I noticed it was rounded like the Bosch units. This got me to thinking I better ck when Gray Davis went out of business? The same rounded field case was used on Auto-lite units in the mid 20's after they bought Bosch. So what they did was give it a Bosch number when they acquired Gray Davis.---

GCheaney@aol.com

Ace Alternator and Starter Exchange

Attn: Glenn

PO Box 16085

Wichita, Ks

67216

Edited August 22, 2023 by PWN (see edit history)

[PWN]

Update...I removed the starter and opened the back end up and cleaned all the brushes, etc. They were not bad at all. I also checked the foot starter switch and one of the contacts was not a brilliant copper and kinda tarnished. I bet it had not been taken apart and cleaned in 30-40 years if ever. All that with a charged battery, took two days at 2 amps, so it was weak to say the least.

 

I bench tested the started and it didn't work BEFORE I realized that I needed to ground it since it was off. Worked fine, nice and quiet and strong.

 

All is well now. Weak battery, dirty contacts are a thing.

 

Edited August 25, 2023 by PWN (see edit history)

[rodneybeauchamp]

Thanks for the report back.
 

So many post here looking for help but rarely reply with the outcome that fixed their problem.

 

Perhaps there are lots of vehicles and owners out there still waiting to get running. Love to see the pictures.

Rodney 😀😀😀😀😀😀

[29 Chandler]

Great to hear Peter! Can't wait for you to use it to start up your old Chandler.