My starter always turns over and spins, but sometime it does not engage and turn the motor over. The starter looks really old and filthy, it may be the original.

Do I need to buy a new starter? For less than $50 I pick one up and It looks like 3 bolts and one wire, so I may try and put it on myself. any suggestions? Should I try something else first?

 

Sure, keep your old one though. New remanufactured are hit and miss. Best to replace bendix and solenoid at same time. Have your original rebuilt and keep on hand for a spare, because you may need it right away.

 

Are the bendix and solenoid easy to replace, where are they?

 

The soleniod is on the fender, on a ford, and the Bendix is in the starter. Replacing the whole starter is easy. It is just as you described. 3 bolts, and a wire. Be sure to disconnect the battery before you mess with the starter. My dad one time didn't and the wire touched the oil pan, it acted like an arc welder, and cut a small hole in the pan.

 

I'm just an average guy that bought an old truck. I can't figure out what the bendex is, or a part to order. Can you give me some more details on this thing?

 

The starter is grounded thru the surface it mounts to so make sure it's clean; bell housing, as well as the bolts and nuts. Clean the surfaces where the starter cable mounts at the starter and the starter solenoid. I would also clean the contact points from the positive side of the starter solenoid to the batt. to include the pos./neg connectors and post. Found a dab of dielectric grease on exterior connectors and ground surfaces works great.

The bendix should come w/ the replacement starter, it's located under the 'hump' that sets on top of the starter. The
http://image.made-in-china.com/2f0j0...to-Starter.jpg

https://sp.yimg.com/ib/th?id=HN.6080...=213&h=126&p=0

Pic of circuit:
http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/n...gIgncharge.jpg

 

Starter solenoid located on inner fender apron adjacent to the battery. Short (positive) battery cable attaches to it, as does the cable that leads to the starter.

Starter drive (Bendix) is 11350 in pic. As you can see, it's located on the 11005 armature, not under the 11060 "hump."

IMO, just buy a rebuilt starter from an auto parts store. It comes with the Bendix and every other part in this pic.

However, if the starter does not always engage and just spins, you have another problem.

This problem is caused by chipped/missing teeth on the flywheel or flexplate. Starter will just spin if Bendix lands on a spot where teeth are chipped or missing.

If an A/T, you have to replace the flexplate. With a M/T, only the flywheel's ring gear has to be replaced.

 

the good thing about replacing these starters is that it takes about 3 minutes. my old truck went through them pretty regularly. i can't start this one, so i have no idea if i'll have the same problem with this one. lol.

 

Just went thru this exact same problem. I switched out the starter and it starts great. I bought a new one, not a re-man. Wish it only took 3 minutes but mine took over 4 hours, but I have headers that wrap around the starter. With stock exhaust it would be a breeze.

SPark

 

Is the flywheel's ring gear east to replace once the starter motor is off? Advanced Auto Parts has two of them available for my 1966 manual speed, straight six motor. one is 184 teeth and the other is 164 teeth. The site say both are an exact fit for my truck. How do I know which is correct?

While I have it all off, I'd like to be prepared to replace the flywheel's ring gear if i see teeth missing.

 

Nope. You must remove the tranny to replace the flywheel.

After so many years and who knows how many owners there are a lot of things to consider.

Like ND said, maybe your flywheel is missing teeth, if it was ever resurfaced it should have been shimmed, your solenoid may not be allowing the gear to engage the flywheel all the time and that's why it just spins.

The easy thing to do is to drop the starter and see what you can see.