OK I give up! Where can I buy a good starter made in the US?

[Redbarron%%]

My old starters finally gave up and I went on Ebay and bought one. The average price is very good and the quality is uniformly poor.
The shafts are soft steel and one actually bent instead of the clutch protecting it.
The second the Bendix sticks down after starting.
I miss my old starters! The smoke came out of one so that armature is shot. I have another old armature and I can try building one from the parts or maybe putting in in place of the bent shafted one.
What a pile of .....
I would not mind paying more IF i could be assured that what I am buying is not the same poor quality as the Cheap Chinese starters.
Who knows where I can buy an assured US made quality starter?

 

[Redbarron%%]

OK I decided to try to put together one starter from the Chinese Cr@p and see if I can get going until I get another good starter. I had the armature from the ARCO starter (it had a bad brush holder). I used the the front bearing and armature and the magnets, shell and the brush holder from the Chicr@p starter to see if it will work. The problem with them is the shafts are soft where the US made are hardened and hopefully will not bend. They also have the clutch that limits the kick back and torque that bent the new one. The other new one (not yet bent) is a start once and then pry up POS.
Cross your fingers because tomorrow in the "cool" of the morning I am going to install it and just see.
By the way the cool of the morning is about 80* and humid as......

 

[MrMarty51]

I’ll be watching this thread.

 

[jerryjerry05]

IF??? the old one hasn't completely gone to crap???
Then rebuild with OEM parts.
Little more expensive but you end up with a better starter.

The pics: the reason to clean your starter every 1-2 years.
Find the 3 places that need grease on your starter and then
don't over grease.

 

[Redbarron%%]

You are so right, Jerry. I was able to salvage the ARCO starter armature and got the boat running this morning. The Bendix is very much better than the China C@ap. Comparing them side to side really shows up the issues.
All of my brush holders and end caps were bad so at least the donor Chinese parts were copied close enough to fit. Too bad the materials are so poor. You can readily see the difference in the spiral on the shafts. The first one was machined correctly with a gap and a ridge for the Bendix to hit and not stick where the other had the spirals all the way down where even if you turned the Bendix down by hand it would stick and not start the next time. Both shafts are dead soft steel.
Do as Jerry suggests and maintain your starters because IF you can get a new US made on it will cost from $160 to $250.