I have a 1974 F100 with a swapped out 302 that someone else did several years ago. The motor runs pretty good but I am having issues with the lower mount tab on the starter housing breaking.

My thought initially was that whoever built up the motor and tranny used too long of bolts through the flywheel and that they were striking the starter housing as it spun around. I tried filing down the ends of these bolts to provide some additional clearance. I also filed down the actual started housing in the area that I thought may be getting hit. I also noticed that the lower bolt hole on the bell housing was pretty well stripped so I used a longer bolt and placed a nut on it where it poked through the housing and really torqed that down to prevent any movement.

I thought that I had the problem licked but after a couple of weeks, it is happening again. I noticed a hair line crack developing in the exact same spot The teeth on the ring gear around the flywheel are pretty chewed up in some places so I also tried filing the starter housing to allow it to sit further into the bell housing (like 1-2 mm). Can the teeth wear be the cause of some weird torque forces being placed on the mounts and causing it to crack? The bell housing cover is missing and the starter is REALLY LOUD but I figured that once I find a new cover and put it on that should help block some of the noise. Nobody that I have brought this up to has ever heard of the mounts breaking like this.

Do I have to drop the tranny and replace the ring gear or is there another option? Is it supposed to be so loud with the cover removed from the bell-housing? Any thoughts on what I may be missing? I have already returned two starters to the parts house and know that they won't take another back under the "life-time warranty" and don't want to have to keep dealing with this every few weeks.

HELP!!!Please!!

 

The only way to replace the flywheel is to pull the transmission. It's sounds like the flywheel could be the problem but the only way your going to find out is to replace the tore up one.

 

Thanks Wiz, I have never done that before. From what I can think of right now, I will need to remove the cross member brace, detach front u-joint, remove vacuum line and shift lever, use floor jack to relieve weight pressure, unbolt bell housing. Other than that I am flying blind. Anything special to look out for?

As a related but separate issue, the little doo-hickey that the kick down lever attaches to on the transmission came loose and just it now just pushes back into the housing everytime I try and reattach the lever. Anybody know of an easy way to keep that from happening or another way to reattach the lever? Right now I just removed the kickdown lever all together and it seems to function just fine but if I am going to go to the trouble of dropping the tranny, I figured I should do it all right.

 

I recomend getting a haynes manual for your year truck it will help greatly. Remove the driveshaft from the rearend and the yoke will slide out from the back of the transmission.

 

i had a 1980 f-350 that did the same thing to the t. i replaced the starter four times then changed the flex plate twice ( first with a factory replacement the with an after market unit) then it was ok for about a month now the bellhousing on the tranny cracked as well as the starter. i ended up selling the truck, needed a bigger truck. never did find out the cause to it. good luck and keep us posted.

 

You say the bellhousing cover is missing? So if you are lying underneath the truck looking up at it, you can see the back side of the flexplate? Is there just a piece missing that bolts on, or is the whole thing missing from one side of the bellhousing to the other, including between the starter and the bellhousing? What do the teeth on the starter look like? What I'm thinking is, if some one swapped this motor in and didn't put the bellhousing cover back, they are usually a shim that is sandwiched between the bellhousing and the block, without it your starter will sit a little too close to the flexplate and you could get some interference. You can get a shim to go between the starter and the bellhousing that should space the starter out a little farther. I saw them at Napa just today. That could get you by till you're ready to drop the tranny for some other reason...that's provided that the shim/cover is missing. -TD

 

I had the thought that it might need a shim only when I tried that, it seemed to pull the starter too far back from the flywheel. That and the wear on the teeth on the flywheel caused it to grind as it didn't mesh very well.

Now I am wondering about the possibility of finding a decent (cheap!) 3 or 4 speed tranny at the boneyard. The 3 speed one on there now works OK but it leaks a little from the rear seal and the pan, it's missing it's bell-housing cover, and the kick-down lever is detached.

I figured that if I have to drop the tranny anyway, it might make sense to try and get one in better shape. I can't spend a whole lot on it but remember seeing a ton of transmissions on the floor at a couple of the junk yard warehouses around town. Any advice on what I need to look for that can bolt up to to the 302? How would one really evaluate a loose tranny (sounds perverted!)?

 

Well, so much for that idea. If you are going to pull it anyway, then yeah, you might as well look for anther tranny if that's the way you want to go. What do you have now, C-4 or C-6? You could go to an AOD, I did that a few years ago in a Ranchero that I had, it's a little longer than the C-6 I had in there, but a have a lot of driveshafts and found one to fit. If you have a C-4, you could go to a C-6 or the AOD. The AOD tends to be a little fragile, and tough to find a used one in good shape. The C-6 that will fit a small block can often be found in vans benind a 351W. And of course, while you've got it out you can really inspect and evaluate everything, who knows, maybe the starter problem well become obvious. Good luck. -TD

 

i had the same problem on my 71 f100 with a 302 and i finally found what caused it. the motor mount bracket on the driver side was loose and caused the bellhousing on the pass side to pull back about a quater inch. i tighted it all back up put a new starter on and its never given me a problem since.

 

Thanks for that JPDMOE, I will check that as well. I have located a decent replacement flywheel so I am going to go ahead and drop the tranny, replace the flywheel, check for the shim between the block and bellhousing, and go ahead and change the fluid and adjust the bands while it is out. I think I also noticed that there is one or two bolts missing from the bell-housing to block so I will replace those. I will be sure to check both motor mounts while I am at it.

Will update as it goes. Thanks for all the input.