Yes new pilot bearing

 

One thing that you can try is to see how the starter drive in engaging the flywheel. Clean the starter drive, then coat the drive teeth with either 'blueing' or a black permanent magic marker, coating the teeth completely. Then install and start the starter for a few seconds (disconnect the coil wire) of rotation. Pull the starter out and see how the drive teeth wear patterns looks. This should give you an idea on how the mesh is aligning up. But again, I would use a new starter before trying this.

 

I have been having my starters fail over the last 8 years about 1 a month I thought it was just cheep starters with life time warranty's but this week I went through 3 starters in 3 days I looked on line and did not find any good help about the problem I was having I looked up the teeth on the new flywheel I put in in 2008 and the only thing that it had was the starter I was getting was the right one but they keep failing so I asked if they have a shim kit for ford starters at auto zone and they do so I got a new starter and the shim kit I had to droll out the holes on the shim that fit my starter and put on a washer for the bolt hole that did not line up with the shim but it seams to be working the starter is not making a horrible noise and it is starting. I have never shimmed a ford starter before and never had a problem till I changed the flywheel so I think that ford starters now have to be shimmed now due to the quality of ford has been going down this millennium. so I would try a shim to see if it works

I have had 4 ford trucks and each of them has been a bigger POS than the last. I first had a ranger loved it than a bronco 2 still have it I put the motor from the ranger in the bronco 2, than a f350 it burned to the ground and now f250 it is in the shop once a month. I am an jet engine mechanic and am not afraid to wrench on my cars I do like to fix then when they break down but not every day

 

Welcome to FTE. My 92 has over 240xxx on it. still kickin', the 98 has 278,329. Still kickin'. I've only had to replace/repair normal wear items on either of them. Personally I'm very satisfied with Ford products. Although I do prefer another makers cars my trucks are my go to vehicles. I'm sorry to hear of your troubles with the starters, maybe there is a reason why they are going bad so soon that you are overlooking.

 

I had what I thought was a starter problem with my '54 F-100 with a 351/AOD combo. After 2 starters and spacers did not fix the problem, I removed the dust cover and had my wife spin the motor over while I was under the truck with my flashlight. Come to find out the flex plate was warped. Still have no idea how it happened but 4 years later and 11,000 miles now on the truck, absolutely no problems (and no spacer after repairs) Steve