got a 79 f250 with a rebuilt 400 with approx 15k on it
all this trouble started when i discovered i had a cracked flywheel.
I put a brand new flywheel on it and also put a new starter and new solenoid on it at the same time.
hooked the battery back up tried to start it and acted like battery was low just clicked. checked to make sure everything was connected properly and tried again with same result.
So i jumped the solenoid and it was very noisy like a old chevy that wasnt shimmed right.
got it started and drove it then parked it went out later to start it and just clicked again.
put a new battery in and same thing so tried to jump solenoid again and rolled twice very noisy and would roll just got the starter wire hot
I pulled the starter to find the gear split and was missing a tooth.
I thought at first that i was given either the wrong flywheel or starter but i do have the correct flywheel and a 9 tooth starter
Why am i having this problem before i replaced the flywheel i had none of these problems
I m stumped does anyone hav any ideas?

 

Is the block plate installed? Thin piece between eng and trans

 

how does the flywheel look

 

Yes the block plate is properly in place.
To me looking at the starter it looks to be to close to the flywheel.
Which makes no sense on a Ford

 

As I said in my question I just put a brand new Flywheel and at the same time installed a new starter and solenoid.

 

Does the new flywheel diameter match the old one EXACTLY?

 

With the 300, there are different starters for Manual and Autos... Going to guess it's the same for the 400's.

Maybe you got an auto starter stuffed into the manual bellhousing and this caused the carnage?

 

well going to try this again just bought another new starter and new solenoid and all new wires

 

If all the connections are good, grounds and all. Then I would say your starter is bad, I once replaced everything and it ended up being a battery cable bad. Sometimes they will corrode inside of the crimped end.

 

Is it possible the new flywheel you have is the wrong diameter somehow? Chinese part maybe? Lots of stories there. That's the only thing you've changed that could affect flywheel/starter clearance, since block plate is there and starter position is fixed.