2)   Disconnect the starter power lead by holding the inner nut with a wrench and turning the outer nut with a socket.

3)   Remove the air cleaner by releasing the clips and wiggling the top to the rear until you have it clear. Then loosen the two set screws shown in the picture with a screwdriver until the air cleaner is free to lift up. This one has been fitted with a paper element. The reason the crossover line is so long on this bike is to allow the tank to be raised for electrical repairs.

4)   First remove the through bolt on the top of the starter mount. Then remove the lower large bolt on each side. The sidecar side is a bit fiddly to get to as it is under the coil on my bike and hard to see. It is about a 14mm head, but all bets are off on CJs as it may be any bolt they had handy. For this reason I’m not giving wrench sizes but have a metric and an SAE kit available. I’ve used both on my bike.

5)   Insert a crowbar in the spot shown in the picture and force the starter back, it may be quite hard and my bike shows that someone had a battle in this spot at one time.

6)   The starter will work right back though and out.

7)   I prefer to use brake cleaner, carb cleaner, or ether to clean up an area. I have a pan under the bike to prevent a mess.

8)   Silicone seal the area of the starter O-ring generously with black high temp silicone seal. Refit the starter carefully so as not to smear the seal everywhere and lose enough to prevent a good seal the first time.

9)   Remount the starter bracket. I did the difficult side first by inserting the through bolt (you can tape it if you need to and leave the tape in place). On my bike the lower mounting bolt on the sidecar side must first go through a bracket for the wiring loom. Use blue Loctite on each of the bolts and nuts.

10)   Reconnect the starter power lead. I clean the surface well on and electrical connection and use blue Loctite on the nuts. Don’t get it on the actual connection and don’t allow the inner nut on any electrical device like a starter to spin. Hold the inner nut with a wrench. Don’t ask me how I know this but I did learn to rebuild a started before I wanted or needed to.

11)   Install the air cleaner by inserting the base and leaving the lock screws loose. For some reason unknown to man you often must loosen lock screws further before you can reinstall something like this. Then replace the top of the air cleaner which may require you to twist it in a few directions and perhaps twist the air cleaner body to reinstall it properly. The wiring loom and crossover hoses may have to be wiggled past. Then once you have the snap back on check that the body is centered and tighten the lock screws with a drop of blue Locktight on each one.

12)   Wipe off any excess Loctight or silicone seal.

13)   Reconnect the battery and test the starter.

14)   On a major reseal of any component I like to let the seal cure overnight if possible.

What to do? Rotate the crankshaft and camshaft by pushing the kickstarter gently, pull on the starter, feel the two gears touching each other until they line up and then the starter can be pulled out gently. No force, no damage to crankcases and so on.

See the pictures showing the three gears which need to be lined up before pulling out the starter. Obviously, during assembly set the two camshaft gears in line so the starter gear can slide easily and into place. By the way, the starter has a real planet gear drive inside of it! That explains why this relatively small electric motor is able to start the engine very well.