ST4 Starter Problems

Can anyone help me identify a VW starter that will work in my ST4? I have changed from the original 6V system to a 12V system. All the starters that I have tried do not mount with the mounting holes on the bell housing since the steering tower forces me to spin the starter a few degrees. Any help out their?

Thanks.

The Snow Trac uses an industrial VW engine not a standard VW engine. Because of this you can't install a regular VW starter. You may have better luck simply having your starter rebuilt.

I believe thats the case Bob. The Snow Trac starter is the same as a VW starter but with one ear or bolt hole removed. In the place of the hole is a small washer that needs to be placed, then the bolt goes through that. "ALASKANST4" keep the 6 volt starter and just use it in you 12 volt sytem. It wont hurt the starter in fact it will run better and spin faster with the 12 volts. My Snow Master I just found out has had a 6 volt starter in it for years. In fact someone had replaced the 12 volt starter with the 6 volt but didnt bother to change the gear that engages the flywheel. The end result is a slightly chewed up but not bad flywheel. If you didnt change your flywheel then you need to use a a 6 volt starter gear anyway. Hope this helped.

Well if I understand it correctly, the housing on the starter for the industrial engine is different than the housing on the starter for the standard engine. That is why the standard starter won't simply bolt onto the industrial engine.

I also believe the internal gear on the 6 volt and the 12 volt starters have different teeth counts.

I am pretty sure that a 6 volt industrial starter can simply be rebuilt and converted to a 12 volt industrial starter by changing out the 'guts' of the old starter with new parts.

I am sure that Lyndon wrote about this topic somewhere here on the Forums, and I even think he posted some photos and some part numbers, but I'll be darned if I can find them.

Well I think its on then!

I say I am right.

Time for me to take someone to school.


On the VW industrial engine they are almost identical if not identical to your standard aircooled VW engine externally. Internally is where you will find the diffrences. The starter for both engines are the same. Now on a Snow Trac because of clearance issues one of the ears or bolt holes is shaved off. Other than this there is no diffrence between the starters.

Now on my particular Snow Master someone installed a 6 volt starter and changed the 6 volt gear to a 12 volt gear. They also had a standard VW starter and simply shaved off one of the bolt holes. This can be done on ANY VW starter. The first 4 pictures are of my current Snow Master starter. The tag on the side is a rebuild tag from a company in Canada and says 6 volt. The second group off four pictures are of a standard VW 12 volt starter.

School is out.

Professor Lyndon what say you?

1 through 4 are current 6 volt converted to 12 volt "gear" vw snow trac starter. It is still internally a 6 volt starter. They run better last longer and spin faster.

This group of four pictures is of a standard VW 12 volt starter.

Alaskanst4 your best bet is to just mill or grind off the offending bolt hole and use your washer that was with the original snow trac starter. If you dont have that washer any more then that would make things a bit more difficult . I can have all this done for you if you need me to. Starter modified and special washer/clamp made. Just PM me.

didn't think alaskans turned their st4's off ... anyway I had my starter rebuilt and the guy screwed it it royal.... we wound up matching it up with a 6 volt starter on a 12 vold system ... worked like a charm... grr

I gave an entire run down/ historical/Technical perspective on the 6 Volt VS 12 Volt Starter as part of the Thread on Variators. Go there, it explains everything. There are 3 things one must do to convert from 6 V to 12V... Flywheel, Starter Solinoid, and the all important Starter Bushing. I believe I also wrote about it under STARTER problems someone esle was having.

Also See: VW Engine Starting Issues, a thread started by Bob S. Scan the entire Thread. There is some better detail here than in the Variator Thread.

In the Thread:" VW Engine Starting Issues" Review Posts 7,19, 22, 25 & 26.
In the Thread:"Variator" Review Posts 11,12, & 21.

Thanks Guys. I have changed the flywheel to a 12V flywheel and have been grinding off the ear on the 12V starter. The starter will last for a few months and then eventially fail. I have also used the proper bushing in the bell housing on that style of starter and have also tried a different style of starter that does not use the brass bushing in the bell housing. If I could find a 6V starter, I can have it reworked into a 12V starter at our local shop who is familiar with this problem. I am new to the site, so am still learning about threads. I appreciate the help. We have 3 ST4's by the way, all with the same problem.

Lyndon said:

In the Thread:" VW Engine Starting Issues" Review Posts 7,19, 22, 25 & 26.
In the Thread:"Variator" Review Posts 11,12, & 21.

Click to expand...

Here are links to the threads that Lyndon was referring to:

VW Engine Starting Issues = http://www.forumsforums.com/3_9/showthread.php?t=6686


Variator Thread = http://www.forumsforums.com/3_9/showthread.php?t=4113