THE PORTAL HUB - Pinzgauers, Haflingers, Volvo 303s and more!

Hi Guys,

Just thought I would give you a heads up on a little project here. We have currently received our samples for testing and these things look great. Pictures here: http://www.expedition-imports.com/produ ... --24V.html

Here is the rundown:

Stock Starter 18 Lbs
Gear Reduction Starter 9 Lbs
What this means to you is a lot less weight hanging on your rubber starter block.

1.4 KW is your stock motor for power.
The gear reduction motor puts out 1.9 KW and cranks the motor a good bit faster.

Quality gear reduction assembly made in the USA. Electric motor is a high quality Denso. (Japanese OEM monster.) This is a quality unit manufactured in the United States, with support and backing stateside. On the negative, this quality also adds significantly to the price.....but we are tired of Chinese crap!

Target price point is $475, no cores required. Hoping to have some video and install information up in the coming weeks.

Any interest in these if we were to offer them?

Cheers,

Scott

Scott, for off-roading the starter gets used to move the truck in slow assents or stalls during braking on extreme descents. Can this new unit keep up to the abuse?

Scott,
I'm definitely interested. Keep me posted on your progress. Looks like a very interesting build.

I think we are going to be pleased.

It's all about the gearing. Just like your pinz with it's hub reduction gears and small motor, the starter motor is similar. When you add a gear reduction a smaller motor can put out more because of that reduction. In this case the output KW is 35% higher than the stock starter. Taking into account we are going from 1950's technology to 1990's and using a top rate electric motor to turn the gear reduction I am pretty optimistic.

We will be installing one on Brians Pinz and hitting the Rubicon next weekend so that should give us some testing.

Cheers,

Scott

Winter Beater wrote:Scott, for off-roading the starter gets used to move the truck in slow assents or stalls during braking on extreme descents. Can this new unit keep up to the abuse?

Winter- at risk of asking a really stupid question, and/or revealing my ignorance-

can you elaborate- on use of starter motor for steep ascents-
are you saying the starter motor can move the truck, uphill, or serve as another form of engine braking, downhill,

without engine power, and

is this a designed use that the starter can manage, repeatedly?

If so, is there a special technique that you can you describe, in a little bit more detail?


thanks!

if you stall while playing on steep stuff and decide to push in the clutch petal you'll free wheeling and be in for a ride; maybe backwards. I was instructed to start it up in gear -it works. Not sure how long the starter will last, but it works and I didn't do any 'free falling'. Don't rely on me being an expert - just passing on info that got me back to camp without damage.

can you elaborate- on use of starter motor for steep ascents-
are you saying the starter motor can move the truck, uphill, or serve as another form of engine braking, downhill,

without engine power, and

is this a designed use that the starter can manage, repeatedly?

If so, is there a special technique that you can you describe, in a little bit more detail?

If you stall during a steep ascent, put the truck in low range, first gear; let the clutch out (so the dead engine is holding the truck, not the brakes) and push the starter. Assuming your engine starts easily, as it starts the truck should start moving up hill (apply the gas pedal appropriately). This is often much easier and safer than trying to switch between brakes holding the truck and the engine/clutch moving the truck without spinning the wheels and losing traction. This is a "last ditch" type of manuver that you do not want to repeat any more than necessary (the idea is not to stall in the first place). It IS hard on the starter but better to replace the starter occasionally than the whole truck if it rolls down the hill sideways.

I've never needed this technique downhill (who stalls downhill?!) but works as well and would be not be as hard on the starter.

just soooo much easier to use the E brake

4x4Pinz wrote:just soooo much easier to use the E brake

From two years in Moab... That doesn't work all that well. would rely on the starter more then the e brake.

Hi Guys,

We have these running in 3 trucks, with nothing but rave reviews. We have mocked them up on the workbench, and done paint transfer testing on Brians truck and we are getting 100% engagement of the flywheel ring gear. Our test mule at the shop is a daily driver and has never had such a positive starter engagement, Starting both in gear and out of gear. It really does have some grunt.

This is a bolt in installation. You may need to loosen the wiring harness tabs and pull some slack out of the harness when you go to install. We had to do that on 1 of the 3 trucks.

We are know in production and have taken delivery of our first batch of the starters.

http://www.expedition-imports.com/produ ... --24V.html

Cheers,

Scott

I just got mine and so far I'm happy with it.
Installation was easy (if you remove the gas tank). The original rubber mounting plate is reused. The fact that it's half as heavy as the stock starter is a good thing too. Also, it engages the flywheel gear fully. That's NOT the case with the stock starter! I like the sound it makes too! Oh yeah, and you can move the truck around with it too since it's more powerful and geared down a bit. That's a nice feature if you need to limp a dead truck off to the side of the road!