Starter's apart from the '84 300D, and I'm noticing that the armature is rubbing against the brush assambly, as evidenced by the pic below where there is wear around the hole where the armature would poke through. The spacers from the endcap are there to next to the brush assembly. Normally the armature would never touch the brush assembly, except for the brushes contacting the armature, right?

The question: how much armature endplay is accaptable for these starters? .002''-.005''? Looking to make and put in a few extra spacers to fix the rubbing problem, and would like to know the endplay specs. The Bosch starter model number here is: 0 001 362 600/1.

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Sorry I do not have a specific answer; there is nothing in the FSM concerning taking apart the Starter;or at least I have not discovered that section yet.
Nor have I ever seen specs for any other Starter in any of the books I have read concerning proper end play.

If those are the thrust washers to the right; perhaps you could swap the around so it/they do not ride on their already worn surface; until you get enough clearance so that it does not rub.

Apparently the rubbed area is not making any electrical contact with (+) currant and may not be causing any problems at all.

How about a pic of the end of the Starter that rubs on the plate.
In fact I would like to see pics of the whole Starter apart as I have not had any Mercedes Starter apart yet.
From the pics I have seen in books it looks extremly similar to a Delco made Starter.

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84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

You are the only one I have read in a year and 1/2 of so far that has taken apart their Starter and posted a Pic.
It looks like brushes could be replaced.
Where were the symptoms?

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84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

The solenoid was bad, got a clickety click but no starter energizer bunny action. I disassembled the starter to see how worn everything was. The brushes still had alot of meat, everything looked great. Turns out that the plate here was supposed to rub against the armature a little. Even took the solenoid apart with a parting bit in the lathe, sucks that you can't buy a solenoid that just unbolts for these starters cheap. The high amperage contacts were severly burned, would have just cleaned those up and put them back in, but the question of how to reassemble a non-disassemblable solenoid was never answered. The new solenoid works great, sucks I didn't take more pics of things while they were apart,I should have checked here before the starter went back in.

I would say that this Bosch starter is built rather differently compared to a Delco starter. Delco starters' armature is seperated from the endplate by a couple of metal washers, while a Bosch unit's armature is seperated from the endplate by the plate shown above with the brushes on it. The plus with the Bosch unit is that it's much easier to shim: endplate removal is not necessary on Bosch units to add or remove shims! Just remove an endcap that is over the brushes end's bushing, and the shims are right there, easily accessable. The Delco's brushes and commutator seem to not last as long; the GM 6.2 liter diesel's starter's brushes and armature wore out quickly before we bought a fancy new chinese gear-reduction unit.

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Got cars and bike:
1984 300D, 310K
2000 kawi ex500
1998 grand marquis, 125K

My 82 Volvo Diesel has a Bosch Starter and I have done nothing to it since I bought it in 1992. But, I have no winter starting to deal with here in CA.

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84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel