Bad starter. Any good replacements?

[Autostrada Pilot]

Have a 1999 Monster 900 with 21k miles.

Dealer says my starter is bad.  They want $554 (parts) plus 2 hours labor for a new one. 

I saw a few rebuilt ones on ebay for $230 or so.  Anyone have any experience with ebay starters?  Are there any other good places to fine rebuilt/used starters?

[He Man]

bring it to an electric shop, they can rebuld it for about 2 hours of work + parts so about $200.

or if you are ballsy, you can rebuild it yourself for $25.

generally speaking unless the armature is cooked, you can get by with replacing hte brushes. There is a kit in a link located in the tech section to a guy who sells rebuild kits. you have to remove the left side cover to access the bolts to remove the starter.

ive rebuilt mine only to findout that the starter cooked itself so i sent it off to be completely rebuilt. (44k miles)

[Düb Lüv]

fleabay. usually sub $150 all day. sometimes even sub $100.

[Autostrada Pilot]

fleabay. usually sub $150 all day. sometimes even sub $100.

Used or rebuilt?

[Düb Lüv]

Used

[The Mad King Pepe']

Usually the problem with starters (and most electric motors) are the brushes: as they wear out there is no more electic contact. I still have the "broken" starter from my 748, I didn't know better at the time so I went and bough a refurbished one.

If you have the technical knowledge you can just do as He Man suggested and fix it yourself for cheap. You'll need to drain the oil, take off the left engine cover, take off the flywheel (probably) to get to the bolts that hold the starter engine in place, pop the lid and put in new brushes. Assembly is the reverse, watch for the flywheel timing alignment marks: I had looooots of fun with that!