GY6 starter for Buddy

[chuck_theobald]

My starter went out some months back, and I don't want to keep kicking it to get started. I've heard that a GY6 starter will fit, and found another forum post here that says many GY6 parts will fit. Does anyone know if the starter motor is one of them? The pictures I've seen show the GY6 starter being very similar to the one on my bench, but the electrical hookup is slightly different. I think I can make it work as long as the bolt holes and starter gear line up.

BTW, I've got photo documentation of the process and intend to post a tech article on how to get the body parts off - there's a few tricks to know if you don't want extra broken plastic bits.

[neotrotsky]

Be VERY careful on what parts you choose. Not all GY6 starters are created equal, or come from the same factories. Like any GY6 product, WHERE it's made is as critical as what it's made for. And, like GY6 motors, not all are exact copies of the original Honda design. In fact, PGO's GY6 is not the same as Honda's. Then again, for PGO many changes were made for the better to fit what they wanted to do with their design. Also, some starters may look the same as the units from PGO, but they could be made in different plants in different countries with different grade materials. While the factory one will last years, the off-off-brand one may crap out in a few months. It's just hard to tell. There's Taiwan quality and Chinese quality, and within China there is good market quality and BAD market quality.

If you do choose to go the off-brand replacement, be VERY careful of design and wiring harness. Wiring can be pretty easy to work around if you know what you're doing. But, mounting points could be an issue if you happen to get a very "differently" engineered part.

My suggestion would be to tough it out to find a PGO/Genuine replacement that you know will work.

[ericalm]

I've not heard from anyone here who replaced stock with GY6 generic. I'm sure there are some that will work, and probably some that will work as well as stock, but as neotrotsky said, "GY6" is kind of an artificial designation with no real standardization. There are so many bastard GY6 parts out there that you often don't know what you're getting.

Try calling some dealers and see if they have crashed/salvage Buddys they're using for parts bikes.

[agrogod]

Two of the most overlooked factors are spline length and tooth count. This is just an EXAMPLE of different types. You can see they vary widely for different applications.

[Ethan Allison]

You might want to consider trying to repair the starter if replacing it is a cost issue. There are only so many things that could go wrong with it.