Well my Hitachi starter just bit the dust this weekend thanks to
inflated prices on parts. The problem started with the starter not
engaging with the flywheel but only a light click with the key yet would
pull in and crank with a screwdriver across the terminals. I live in a
dusty area with gravel roads so I attributed the problem with dust
accumulation on the splines for the drive gear so I pulled the starter
for a cleaning and grease. What I found was all the bearings in like-new
condition with no dust on the splines and everything was free running,
what I did discover was the solinoid was shot, this I found after bench
running the motor. It would spin up and run normally with the battery
directly on the motor terminal but through the solinoid it would also
spin but drop out then pick up again with a rapid pace going
"RRRrrrrrchunkRRRRRRRchunkRRRRRRRRchunk" doing this about 5 times a
second. I called a friend at Martin Auto Electric and he informed me
that this was a known failure due to the hold-in contacts failing and
replacement cost was $188.00 and retail was close to $250.00!!! He did
offer me a $100.00 core for the whole starter and I ended up trading it
for a "high-torque" Bosch, a hybrid of a thick wound armateur in a
double compound arrangement thats worth 2.5Kw of starting energy. The
Hitachi motor section is in high demand due to the "boy racers" who need
the additional starting torque for those exotic jap engines and the
motor section is a direct bolt together with a FWD hitachi used by
Honda. Fine they can have it...
So I traded up my Hitachi starters for not only a Bosch with an attitude
but made $100.00 in the process, not a bad weekend plus now I can start
a 70 degree block without plugs.

If you have the hitachi and its working now, keep it but if the starter
is chattering at all replace it now and save yourself the grief later
on, the solinoid was discontinued and thus the price spike. There is no
substitute as the solinoid was specific to the diesel starter with
larger motor contacts and higher hold-in currents. The hitachi will
out-torque the bosch in factory form but the prices of parts will
justify going with a much thicker battery to make up the difference.
The Badboy-Bosch is comprised of Bosch pole coils from a Deutz spec starter
and Merecdes 5-cylinder armateur put in a compound series arrangement
using high copper content brushes. The stock Bosch is capable of 1.5Kw
starting energy and I was advised that if the high-torque was used on an
automatic flexplate with large batteries it would be capable of breaking
teeth off the ring gear in cold weather. Martin Auto Electric is a
wholesale rebuilder of diesel electric parts for the industrial diesel
market and has been around since the late 1940's.

Just my $0.02 but taxes add another $0.03 and fuel surcharge is another
$0.20 that brings us to a full bit!

Brandon