please help.......I have an 85' bronco II, starter does not want to engage.....just spins....put a new starter in and the same thing.....this was a replacement motor and I do not know a whole lot about it.....when it would occasionally start the truck...the starter sounds loud and noisy.....were these to have a shim plate???? are their different starters for different year 2.8 V6s???? any help greatly appreciated...thanx fast77

 

First check that your starter is engaging. You can check this yourself or have your local autoparts store check it for you.

Based upon what you've stated, looks like you might be missing some teeth on the ring. With the starter off check the flywheel and look for missing teeth. You might have to manually rotate the engine to check the whole thing. Make sure you rotate the engine in the correct direction, might loose your timing.

 

Fast77, pull the starter out again and see if the flywheel have any teeth on the flywheel gear, now since it is a 6 cylinder engine it will only stop at three places when it is shutdown, the shim plate was used only if the front of the starter drive steel casing was hitting the flywheel gear face, if you have teeth on the flywheel and the pinion gear is not broken in the starter, have the starter checked to make sure the drive is moving out on the armature when it is powered up. ford has many starters available, but I don't know without looking how many fit the 2.8 in the wrong application.
Electric1

 

Ok i have tried a few different starters so i know its not the problem, the starter cathes on the flyweel every now and then. No teeth are missing but they are pretty worn down and there are alot of metal shavings all over the flywheel. If i am going to put a new ring gear on would it be easier to just pull the engine or just drop the trans out? Thanks

 

Pull the tranny. If its manual you can check the clutch/pressure plate and rear seal while you're there. Make sure you use a new ring gear.

 

To replace the ring gear, you are much better off dropping the tranny but you have to get a machine shop to change the ring gear on the flywheel. what will suck though is when you do all that work and put it together and it still does the same thing. i had the exact problem with mine...went through ten starters from different companies and even tried replacing the ring gear, it still didn't work. some times it would make a very loud cracking noise. then i would try again and it would totally miss the flywheel and spin freely. what i have heard is that some of the starters come with 8 teeth and some with 10 and if yours is bad you need the other, but i took a different route. i took four fairly slim peices of steel, about 1 inch by 1 inch and maybe a quarter inch thick that i got from home depot and started shaving. i made each peice into a wedge. i put one wedge between the starter and bellhousing on each bolt, making the starter angle towards the flywheel. i took the other piece of steel and placed it in the opposite direction so that the bolt would go down straight. i don't know if this makes sense in writing but it has worked now for a pretty long while...knock on wood. it doesn't sound like it did before when it starts but it starts every time and that's all i care about. if you have any questions just write back

side view
0= bolt
\= wedge in one direction
/= wedge in opposite direction
U= one starter ear (do to both)

starter 0\U/l bellhousing

george