The DPO (Dumb Previous Owner) and the SCO (Stupid Current Owner) both did something stupid with the Vision Starter. I started out by pulling the starter out of the spare engine. I opened the starter and found it to be in perfect condition, however the seal was the original OEM seal. So, I wanted to upgrade it to the seal with the spring lip. Everything went very well and smooth, until it was time to put the armature back through the bearing. The socket I used to drive the armature through the bearing was tapered inside and I didn't realize it. The taper made the inside diameter too big and using it damaged the bearing. In removing the bearing, I read the instructions wrong. I interpreted "drive the bearing out from the sealed side." as "drive the bearing out from the seal side.". One simple word, "Seal" and "Sealed". I tried to drive the bearing out the wrong way. I cracked a perfect "O" ring off the top of the nose of the starter.

Start over, remove the starter from the engine on the bike. Open that starter and find that, yes, the seal failed and filled the starter with oil. The DPO, apparently tried to fix a dry rotted rubber "O" ring with some sort of silicone. The DPO didn't even try and remove the starter from the bike to hack this fix. I had to remove the silicone from the starter with a razor blade. The back side of the starter had nothing, no silicone, no seal, no nothing. I then took the good body from the starter I broke and put it with nose of the oil filled starter. I cleaned up and repaired the seal and then used the correct socket to drive the armature through the bearing. Between the two starters, I believe I ended up with one good one. I greased the gears in the starter and oiled the seals and reinstalled it back into the bike. Can't test it yet as I have to take the Left side cover off the bike to replace the Shift Shaft Seal while the bike is still empty of oil.