Finally got the Junkyard Dog (my 76 F-250 4x4) in the garage and I'm ready to fix my starting problem. <O</O<O

This truck has a remanufactured 390 and ever since I bought it has had a starting problem. I have to rotate the crank by hand a few degrees 20-30 times to get the starter to catch. I suspect the starter has chewed up the ring gear on the flywheel. Hopefully I'm wrong cause a bad bendix would be a lot less work than pulling the trans and transfer case but based on the different sounds I get from the starter I think it's the ring gear. The true cause of this problem is unknown right now since I haven't disassembled anything yet. <O</O

Here are my question. What is the proper tooth count for the flywheel and what is the proper tooth count on the starter? I have no history on this truck so I have no clue if the flywheel is the original or a non stock replacement and the last thing I want to do is replace the starter with one that won't properly mesh with the flywheel or visa versa.<O</O

<O

Any help will be appreciated. Thanks<O</O

 

I wonder if you can even buy a ringgear and start clutch that would fit that truck and not mesh correctly. I doubt. I suspect that someone ran a bad starter in that truck for a long time and it chewed up the ringgear. I had a 1967 F250 that I bought used and almost all of the ringgear was shot. If your truck is a manual tranny, remove the inspection plate and look at the ring gear. If it is an automatic, you will need to remove the starter to look at the ringgear. I bet your ringgear is toast.

 

Flywheel.

Item#: BK 6003035

Price: $25.99
tax and shipping not included

Disclaimer: The stated price may vary from the in store price and may change at anytime.


Attributes:
# of Teeth:184
I.D.:14.188"
O.D.:15.503"
Pitch:12 / 14
Width:0.375"

I think the starter has 9 teeth.

Motorcraft service starter # SA720A

 

Thanks for the info. I'll start the disassembly tomorrow.

 

Did an inspection this morning and I found good news and bad news.

The good news is that I have the new process 205 transfer case and I won't have to remove it in order to remove the trans. The bad news is that the headers (that have been on there for eons) have some close clearance problems with the starter and the rest of the exhaust has been basterdized beyond belief.

Here's a few pics I took of the flywheel ring gear. I'm no expert but to me it shows some normal wear and an occational tooth has the front edge slightly rounded but none are missing or broken.







Question: Do the teeth look bad enough to require me to replace the ring gear?

I'll be pulling the passenger's side header off this afternoon so I can get the starter out. From looking at it the teeth on the starter are a little messed up but I won't be able to tell for sure till I can get it out and take a good look at it. From looking at the clearance between the header and starter I'm thinking that I might have to install a mini starter to get more than a half inch clearance from the header so heat won't be a problem.

Any comments are welcome.

 

It's hard for me to see but looks fine.

can you take a pic looking away from the gear so the cogs don't shine from the flash and any notches would show up more ?

 

Here's a few more plus one of the starter. Getting that thing out with the headers was a real pain!

 

Looks fine to me.
Make sure you remove all the filings from the starter before you install it

 

Thanks. I'm going to have the starter tested before trying to install it again. Guess I'll have to shim it to keep it from chewing up the ring gear though.

 

Just an update.....

Had the starter tested at my local Auto Zone and it tested bad so picked up a new one. This one has a slightly different design on the shape of the teeth so we'll see if it works.

 

what is the part number ?

 

• DURALAST DOM A/S Starter - # DL3131

 

Final update - on this problem anyway.

Installed the new starter today. Only took two people an hour to get that sucker in there with those damn headers in the way. Anyway the new starter works like a champ and sounds like a Ford starter should. Given that the new starter had teeth that were slightly different in shape than the old starter tells me that the old one was the wrong starter for that application.

Thanks for all the help guys.

 

I've got a 460 and this looks exactly like my problem. What starter did you buy that resolved this issue?

Did you have to use spacers? It looks like spacers on the starter would make this worse on my truck.

 

Yeah but, Dave, JD's got an 390FE so you shouldn't go by his numbers? <shrug>

I know a guy that changed out his Ford clutch and left out the big shim plate and the starter made the most gawd-awful grinding sound. He never bothered to put the plate back, just ran it like that for a years. :/

It got better by itself!
LOL :)

Alvin in AZ
ps- cool thread :)