i have a 78 1/2 ton 4wd 351m auto

my starter is giving me serious problems.

when i turn the key the starter goes...but does not engage....

does anyone know where i could find an exploded view of one....

or

a way to jerry-rig it so it will....

is there supposed to be a key or some type of gear on the motor side of the bendix....

when thrusted forward ... my bendix spins freely in both directions.....you can also email me..

thank you in advance\
brian

 

The "Bendix" is the starter clutch. It should not spin freely in both directions. It should spin freely in one direction and it should lock in the other direction. The starter on that truck is setup so that the starter motor will not start spinning until the starter clutch is thrown out and engaged with the flywheel. Once the gear on the starter clutch is engaged with the flywheel, a set of points in the starter closes and the starter motor gets juice to spin the engine.

Because you hear the starter spinning but the engine does not turn over, I would say that your starter clutch is bad. You can get a new starter clutch at NAPA. There aren't very many parts to that starter and that makes it pretty easy to figure out how it all fits together. You can replace the starter clutch by just removing the starter head and the throwout fork. But, while you have it apart, it would be a good idea to clean and grease the bushings and to replace the brushes if they are worn badly. If you do this, you will have a much better starter than you will ever get from a rebuild shop.

 

Pull the starter.

The bendix may be broken

 

yeah...found it.....was the starter thingy under the bendix gear...
bought one..but had to rob the other truck ......to get the truck to my dads house...once there i bought one. and put it on...... now its sounding better than my 6 month old starter......
thanks
brian

 

Isn't it weird how you don't notice how slow your old starter actually turns over the engine until you get a new one?

-Matt