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Just bought a 1988 F350 4x4 crew cab $1,200. A Franken-Ford with at least 8 trucks stitched together. The starter it came with sounds like a garbage disposal full of silverware. It will start the truck but that flywheel won't last long. The transmission is a ZF S5-42 and a 460 motor, the starter I took off is what the parts house says its the right one, but if you look a the bell housing it doesn't match. I'm worried that I'm SOL with the trans and flywheel matching the starter. So what is the the starter that would have the best chance to work? Thanks.
With a closer look the starter bendix teeth look bent over. That's one of the problems. The other problem is all the starters I looked at online (multiple year make and model) none of starter housings look like they would match the bell housing.
Since its a, Franken-Ford, did the motor and trans come out of same truck, and what year was it, what name brand and model # is starter, member here just went through this with small block(wrong starter), but they may be giving you a small bock starter, or one for diesel, F250/350 have at least 4 different starters that fit it, depending on motor/trans combo.
Engine maybe original 1988, sticker on valve cover is mostly gone. Tranny came from some other rig, its a 1991, truck was originally a automatic, cooler is still on the front. The wrong starter is a Drive Works 3152 stamp number 61444318. What I have been looking for is a starter housing that looks like it would match up to the bell housing. Most all the starters for F-series have the two bolt tabs, and those starters a only touch the bell housing on the tabs, the rest is floating.
This may or may not have anything to do with your issue - however - in 1992 460 trucks got a PMGR (smaller) starter to replace the old style larger units. When that change occurred there became 2 part numbers/different starters for auto vs manual. Mine is an E4OD auto, I've never gotten an answer as to what changed or is different between the two. My assumption has always been the manual ZF trans got a different starter. The fact yours has a swapped in ZF might be a factor. So you could lookup a 92+ 460/ZF starter and see if it matches yours.
The link to the PDF @Scndsin gave explained the situation pretty good. So I ordered a new mini starter. Nope, it doesn't engage the flywheel unless one bolt is taken out and the starter is turned a 1/4 inch to the fly wheel. Then it starts the truck perfect. Old style starter has the wrong size gear for the flywheel. The new mini starter doesn't engage the flywheel. So do I drill a new bolt hole in the transmission?
This may or may not have anything to do with your issue - however - in 1992 460 trucks got a PMGR (smaller) starter to replace the old style larger units. When that change occurred there became 2 part numbers/different starters for auto vs manual. Mine is an E4OD auto, I've never gotten an answer as to what changed or is different between the two. My assumption has always been the manual ZF trans got a different starter. The fact yours has a swapped in ZF might be a factor. So you could lookup a 92+ 460/ZF starter and see if it matches yours.
The link to the PDF @Scndsin gave explained the situation pretty good. So I ordered a new mini starter. Nope, it doesn't engage the flywheel unless one bolt is taken out and the starter is turned a 1/4 inch to the fly wheel. Then it starts the truck perfect. Old style starter has the wrong size gear for the flywheel. The new mini starter doesn't engage the flywheel. So do I drill a new bolt hole in the transmission?
no but you arent going to like the answer
You are looking at a flywheel if you are indeed correct on that not having been the right size. its worn now and its not gonna fit anything properly
