I have successfully determined my factory Starter on my 2000 7.3 is weak. I have other issues too but this is the easiest so I'll start here. I'm looking to upgrade to a gear reduction/high torque Starter. Currently looking at Denso, Powermaster, and the XDP starters. Does anyone have any insight as to which may be better or are they all about the same? I can read the spec sheets all day long but if someone here has firsthand experiences they would wish to share it would be greatly appreciated.

 

It's been 15 years since I've done a 7.3 starter. No clue what they look like anymore. I wonder if there is a 6.0-6.4-6.7 type swap for you.

 

I went through this several years ago because the 2 bolt Denso style starter in my truck needed brushes and they are welded in place instead of the bolted in type that are easily replaceable and/or rebuildable. That Denso style starter replaced the original huge 3 bolt planetary gear reduction unit that lasted a long time...and so did the Denso unit that I had rebuilt by a reputable local company. I looked at those large DB Electric units and decided against them for several reasons...they are expensive, you don't know it you're getting a knock off, and they are heavy for the 2 bolts that hold it in there. I found several youtube videos as seen post #6 here by me: https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...-are-good.html during my research and decided in favor of the 6.7L Powerstroke starter. I bought 2 of them from a place in Kentucky...one with 17,000 miles and the other with 28,000 miles on the clock...for $100 out the door shipped to my door. I've had the low mileage unit in my F350 for several years now and couldn't be happier. Because the wife's Excursion still had the huge 3 hole unit in it I had to buy a Denso 2 bolt unit off Ebay that was brand new, but someone broke one of the bolts in the plastic solenoid for the nose cone. I wound up running that starter in her truck for a year and I felt like it was already getting a little tired so I went ahead and swapped in the other 6.7L starter to her truck a couple months ago...wow what a difference. The reason I decided to go with the 6.7L starters is...they were cheap, they are oem Ford, and they are small lightweight though they pack a punch. If you watch the videos you will see there is a difference in the windings and bearing sizes between the various starters for the 7.3L, 6.0L, 6.4L, and 6.7L Powerstroke units.

 

So the 6.7 starters will bolt right to the 7.3 bell housing with no modification?

 

They will bolt up but won't work correctly. If you visit the thread I linked above and look at my first post #5, you have to simply switch the nose cones in order for the drive gear to be in the proper location...