Truck: '85 F-250 4X4
Original(?) 302eng
Original(?)4 speed manual tranny
Original(?)starter
Original(?)flexplate
"New/replaced" bell housing
"New/replaced" flywheel

My buddy wheels this truck into my ONLY work bay. (2 friggin' weeks ago!). Got the truck for free. The story is:
Previous owner replaced bell housing & flywheel because the starter had loosened up and cracked/broke bellhousing where starter bolted to it. Flywheel was all chewed up so he replaced that as well.
Starter is making a terrible noise trying to start truck. It appears as though the starter is not "meshing" with the "new/different" flywheel. It seems to be scimming the top/forward edge of the flywheel teeth. The starter has now chewed that edge of the "new "flywheel to the point where the starter will now NOT fully engage to crank motor over. The teeth on the flywheel are NOT TOTALLY destroyed as neither are the starter teeth (No need to replace flywheel again). There seems to be a "mismatch" of the original starter with the "new/replaced" flywheel.
Flywheel has 163 teeth.
Starter has 9 teeth.
Flexplate is also the original.
I'm pretty sure he just needs to get the RIGHT starter for the "new" flywheel?
I have been away for 2 weeks and this truck was supposed to OUT of MY garage!!
Any help so I can get this truck outta my garage?

 

Check the part numbers on the engine block, bell housing, and flywheel. They should be Ford part numbers starting with E5 for "85". The next letter will designate the vehicle model it was made for. Look at starters for that vehicle and compare them to the one you have (specifically the depth of the drive into the bell housing).

I'm doing this TONIGHT on my 78 F150 to make sure I get the right starter. The first one I got went in too deep and rubbed on the flywheel.

Good luck.

Kevin K.

 

I had a problem with getting a starter for an automatic when I was working on an 86 F150 with a standard. I was not a huge disaster, it just planned off a bit of the starter nose piece. This one may require a step back to really figure out what happened initially. If it was truly that the starter was loose that caused the initial failure, then make sure that the correct ring gear was put on the flywheel. I doubt they just tossed a manual flywheel vs. replacing the ring gear. Next possibility, you may have the wrong starter. I think that the bottom line is that one of the replaced parts is not compatable with the others. Good luck . Let us know when you get it fixed. Here again, it is better to have a freshly broken one than to follow somebody else's work.

 

[QUOTE]kevinCheck the part numbers on the engine block, bell housing, and flywheel. They should be Ford part numbers starting with E5 for "85". The next letter will designate the vehicle model it was made for. Look at starters for that vehicle and compare them to the one you have (specifically the depth of the drive into the bell housing).
I'm doing this TONIGHT on my 78 F150 to make sure I get the right starter. The first one I got went in too deep and rubbed on the flywheel.
Kevin K

I can't get the #'s off the flywheel nor the bell 'cause they're installed already (unless a flashlight & a mirror to the inside?)
How about the # of teeth on the ring gear.... Can't that get me a compatible starter??How many starters could there be???
This blows!!!

 

Just to make sure I understand the problem...

It sounds like the starter gear needs to go deeper into the housing and closer to the flywheel. Is that correct?

The "in deeper" part of the problem is what I ran into and I'm sure it's because I got the wrong starter.

The "closer to the flywheel" part is confusing. On my 460/c6, there's a hole in the engine/tranny spacer plate that the starter goes into, and there's no way to adjust how close it is to the flywheel. Assuming this is true for your setup as well, you'd need a starter with a bigger drive gear, or you have the wrong diameter flywheel.

When I looked at starters for mine, the drive gears were all the same. You could look at every starter for that engine and see if any have a bigger gear. Also, if the tranny has an inspection plate, try to get a tape measure in there to measure the diameter of the flywheel. You should at least be able to measure the distance from the crank to the outer edge of the flywheel. Then you just have to find someone with a working setup and compare measurements. Possibly in the 302 engine forum?

Good luck.

Kevin K.

 

I'm not sure that the engineering pn's that are cast into the parts will be much help to you. I suspect that it is the, possibly rebuilt (incorrectly) starter or the flywheel/ring gear combo. There is no adjustment for the starter position, meaning shims etc..

 

Well....I talked to 2 Ford stealerships.

4 possible starters> those #'s crossed over to 2 possible at my local auto parts supplier.
Tom., I'm gonna go look at the two and compare with the one I have. Hopefully, ONE will be different and work!
I'll let you know.