Starter is freewheeling...
 

i notice it happens more often lately, like once in every 5 key turns, just get that grinding spinning noise when the starter doesn't engage, just a couple questions, is it urgent to get it replaced, or is this just normal wear? and anyone have any advice on replacing a starter? as always thanks!

It's your starter drive going bad. You can replace just the drive, which I would do if the starter otherwise works okay. Yes, I would fix it ASAP, as it could damage the teeth on your flywheel or flexplate. Then you would have a big job removing the transmission etc. to replace the flywheel or flexplate,

It sounds like the starter drive , i would fix it as soon as possable, before it hurts the flywheel or flex plate , that could be the problem to....Lew

X 2 Yes a small job could/will become a big one if not addressed soon.

I was late , but we have the same idea ...

oh man didnt know it was that bad, where can i get just a new drive? i would like to do that cant imagine it being to difficult.

Check at a good parts store , i have got them there before but its been awhile ...Lew

so if i go to like autozone i should just ask them for a 'drive' for my starter? maybe someone can better help me understand this, what exactly is the 'drive' is it just a gear, part of the motor, ect? and im assuming i will have to remove the starter and take it apart, correct?

Yeah like i said its been awhile , like 74 , we use to change just the drive , bendix drive is what we called it back then , now i think you just replace the starter , check & see what they say , im curious if they still sell them ....Lew

Yes just ask for a starter drive, some people call it a bendix. The drive goes on the back end of the starter, yes it contains the gear that engages with the flywheel. Yes you have to remove the starter from the truck.

When you disassemble the starter, don't pull the armature(the middle part of the guts) back from the housing. I can't emphasize that enough. It may be nearly impossible to get it back into the brushes in the front of the starter. Just remove the 2 long bolts from the front of the starter, and carefully pull the back housing off the starter without pulling the armature back.

I guess we didn't determine what year your truck is. The advice above would be for '91 and older trucks, with just one large battery cable and no smaller wires going down to the starter. The '92 and newer starters are probably quite a bit different. I haven't worked on one of those.

Edited to say disregard the last paragraph, I see you have an '87 F-250.

if you look in my sig i have a 1987 f250 diesel, it is a 24 volt starter, so i imagine it must be quite bigger?

Some places still sell them, atleast they did a short time ago. Ford garage no longer sells them for anything, that's what the partsman told me anyway. "Standard" and "Wilson" were two brands still available, there are probably others.

I didn't notice it was a diesel. You would have to check the availability of the drive(etc) on that. Sorry I didn't notice.

ok, i think i'm going to try the junkyard and look for an old one, a re manufactured starter costs 300 bucks from lmc, ouch

A new starter drive goes for around $70.00 at rockauto.com

New/Rebuilt complete starters on E-bay sell for around $100.00
Need to verify if there is a core charge.

The batteries are hooked up in parallel so the starter is 12 volts
and not 24 volts.

http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q...endixdrive.jpg