Starter engaging Flywheel
Thread Starter
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Tuned
Joined: Dec 2011
Posts: 408
Likes: 2
From: South Carolina
Starter engaging Flywheel
Hello,
While rebuilding my truck I am hitting a little issue with the starter and flywheel. I noticed it while trying to rotate the crankshaft by hand to adjust my valve train. The starter is engaging the flywheel so I had to remove the starter to be able to freely rotate the crankshaft.
I looked at the starter and it appears the bendix is fully disengaged. I measured the starter and flywheel and found the starter bendix is about an 1/8" into engaging the flywheel teeth. As a test I put a washer in between the starter and engine block cover to push the starter back a bit but the washer was only about a 1/16th inch thick. This did help but the starter was still slightly engaging the flywheel.
I checked the flywheel installation compared to my original setup and it looks about the same although the new flywheel is slightly different in design. The tooth counter and diameter are the same as I verified that before installing the new flywheel.
The starter is new (reman) as well so I'm not sure what is wrong here. Do I have the wrong flywheel (please God no!) or the wrong starter? Can I install some sort of spacer to push the starter back 1/8"-3/16" of an inch?
This is in a '78 F250, 460, C6, 4x2.
Thanks all!
While rebuilding my truck I am hitting a little issue with the starter and flywheel. I noticed it while trying to rotate the crankshaft by hand to adjust my valve train. The starter is engaging the flywheel so I had to remove the starter to be able to freely rotate the crankshaft.
I looked at the starter and it appears the bendix is fully disengaged. I measured the starter and flywheel and found the starter bendix is about an 1/8" into engaging the flywheel teeth. As a test I put a washer in between the starter and engine block cover to push the starter back a bit but the washer was only about a 1/16th inch thick. This did help but the starter was still slightly engaging the flywheel.
I checked the flywheel installation compared to my original setup and it looks about the same although the new flywheel is slightly different in design. The tooth counter and diameter are the same as I verified that before installing the new flywheel.
The starter is new (reman) as well so I'm not sure what is wrong here. Do I have the wrong flywheel (please God no!) or the wrong starter? Can I install some sort of spacer to push the starter back 1/8"-3/16" of an inch?
This is in a '78 F250, 460, C6, 4x2.
Thanks all!
Thread Starter
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Tuned
Joined: Dec 2011
Posts: 408
Likes: 2
From: South Carolina
Thanks f5fordgirl, yes the drain bolt is accessible through the flywheel. I actually used it to ensure the drain bolt was closed tight a couple of weeks ago.
Senior User
Joined: Jul 2011
Posts: 158
Likes: 1
hi
you are not crazy, it's your starter, I had the same problem,
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...g-starter.html
once you get a remanufactured, (you most likely gave back the core) you no longer know exactly what you had. If you really need to drive the truck, about a 5/16 spacer will do. But you will eventually chew up the starter. I chew up 5 starter in a row.
I went back to the scrap yards. At our scrap yard we remove the part ourself, after i removed 3 of them i found one, with about 5/16 different in lenght at the front of the starter. I re installed it, took me twenty minutes, never had any problem.
What the old man explained to me at the CarQuest, is that for those old ford, he recomment people compare the new one to the old one, before letting go of their core.
If you know the person where you bought the remanufactured one, ask him if you can check their inventory, one of them might be right.
you are not crazy, it's your starter, I had the same problem,
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...g-starter.html
once you get a remanufactured, (you most likely gave back the core) you no longer know exactly what you had. If you really need to drive the truck, about a 5/16 spacer will do. But you will eventually chew up the starter. I chew up 5 starter in a row.
I went back to the scrap yards. At our scrap yard we remove the part ourself, after i removed 3 of them i found one, with about 5/16 different in lenght at the front of the starter. I re installed it, took me twenty minutes, never had any problem.
What the old man explained to me at the CarQuest, is that for those old ford, he recomment people compare the new one to the old one, before letting go of their core.
If you know the person where you bought the remanufactured one, ask him if you can check their inventory, one of them might be right.
Thread Starter
|
Tuned
Joined: Dec 2011
Posts: 408
Likes: 2
From: South Carolina
hi
you are not crazy, it's your starter, I had the same problem,
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...g-starter.html
once you get a remanufactured, (you most likely gave back the core) you no longer know exactly what you had. If you really need to drive the truck, about a 5/16 spacer will do. But you will eventually chew up the starter. I chew up 5 starter in a row.
I went back to the scrap yards. At our scrap yard we remove the part ourself, after i removed 3 of them i found one, with about 5/16 different in lenght at the front of the starter. I re installed it, took me twenty minutes, never had any problem.
What the old man explained to me at the CarQuest, is that for those old ford, he recomment people compare the new one to the old one, before letting go of their core.
If you know the person where you bought the remanufactured one, ask him if you can check their inventory, one of them might be right.
you are not crazy, it's your starter, I had the same problem,
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...g-starter.html
once you get a remanufactured, (you most likely gave back the core) you no longer know exactly what you had. If you really need to drive the truck, about a 5/16 spacer will do. But you will eventually chew up the starter. I chew up 5 starter in a row.
I went back to the scrap yards. At our scrap yard we remove the part ourself, after i removed 3 of them i found one, with about 5/16 different in lenght at the front of the starter. I re installed it, took me twenty minutes, never had any problem.
What the old man explained to me at the CarQuest, is that for those old ford, he recomment people compare the new one to the old one, before letting go of their core.
If you know the person where you bought the remanufactured one, ask him if you can check their inventory, one of them might be right.
Thanks for your feedback shotgun2. Its appreciated!
So even after using the 5/16 space you chewed up your starter? Did you use a spacer from NAPA like Jim described in post #24?
Senior User
Joined: Jul 2011
Posts: 158
Likes: 1
I used a spacer until I found the correct starter. took me a little over 3 months. but it was worth it.
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Thread Starter
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Tuned
Joined: Dec 2011
Posts: 408
Likes: 2
From: South Carolina
Hello all,
This has been resolved. Somehow I got the wrong part number from AutoZone. It was off by one digit so I guess they accidently pulled the wrong part from the shelves. I returned the starter and got the correct one and now I can freely rotate the crank without it engaging the flywheel. The correct part number was DL3152.
Thanks all for the help.
This has been resolved. Somehow I got the wrong part number from AutoZone. It was off by one digit so I guess they accidently pulled the wrong part from the shelves. I returned the starter and got the correct one and now I can freely rotate the crank without it engaging the flywheel. The correct part number was DL3152.
Thanks all for the help.
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Did you ask what the starter was for ? Strange, I never came across a starter that would bolt on and was a little different than the right one. Someone used to make a starter shim plate that was about that thick. I had one around here for years and a friend finally needed it but he had no idea what his used starter came from. Bolted it in and it worked fine after that.
Thread Starter
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Tuned
Joined: Dec 2011
Posts: 408
Likes: 2
From: South Carolina
Did you ask what the starter was for ? Strange, I never came across a starter that would bolt on and was a little different than the right one. Someone used to make a starter shim plate that was about that thick. I had one around here for years and a friend finally needed it but he had no idea what his used starter came from. Bolted it in and it worked fine after that.
I bought the shim the same night I swapped the starter in case I still needed it but thankfully I do not need it any longer.
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