Hey, my 61 Dodge's starter ****ped out on me. Local guy says he can't find parts easily and will cost over 300 to repair. Not sure I trust him..... I know there is an early and a late starter for these engines...a brand new on is available from Summit for 120 or so, and they list it as a 61-67 starter. i had thought that the new style starter was 62 and up....am I wrong? Can I use the commonly available one? Or do I have the early one and have to get it fixed?
First I have taken my Packard starter to a local rebuilder and it sure wasn't anything like $300. More like half that or less. I'm guessing you would be OK with the Summit starter. Have you called their tech line? They can be a real help sometimes.
If it's listed as 61-67, it might fit a few 61s, but not yours...since you have the early starter I would take it apart and see what's wrong with it. But I'm like that. Might be able to find some parts for it if you take the time to look, or you might find another Mopar starter from that era that has the parts you need.
Atlas parts Obsolete in Murrieta, CA specializes in parts for older Mopars - check out the website or call them. www.atlaschrys.com 951 461-2005
Can you post a picture of it? Believe it or not, Mopar small block V8, big block V8 and slant six starters all interchange. We're talking a span of '58 for the big block through the 90's until the stopped making the small block. The later starters are even a high torque mini-starter design. I'd be surprised if your starter was a unique piece, but I'm not too ed-ju-mi-cated about the Poly motors. I thought they were just the predecessor to the common LA small block. If it bolts to the ****** like all the other Mopars, you might be able to just pick up a cheapo rebuild unit for a later engine. Someone else knows for sure...
300.00 is a hose job. I'll whittle one for you out of a solid chunk of Unobtainium for half that price.....
I checked Atlas...they have relays, and solenoids, I can find Bendix drives easily. But the starter spins, and engages, it doesn't have the power to spin the engine. So I'm ***uming it's a bad armature or windings. I haven't seen them for sale, though I know you can get them rewound. Just prefer to get a new one, if it will fit. Anyone know the year they changed?
My early Mopar Hollander shows the following - it's a pretty narrow window. '61 Dodge 6-Cylinder: '60-'61 Dodge, Plmouth or Valiant 6-cylinders, and '61 Lancer 6-cylinder '61 Dodge 318: Dodge Truck '62 to Early '64 excluding A100, Loadflite and WM300, '65 Dodge 6-cylinder Taxi w/standard transmission, '61 Plymouth 318, and '65 Plymouth 6-cylinder Taxi w/ standard transmission. '61 Dodge 8-cylinder/except 318: '59-'61 Chrysler, '62-'64 Chrysler w/ standard trans., '58-'59 DeSoto except Firesweep (which ironically was built on a Dodge platform), '60-'61 DeSoto, '62 Dodge w/standard trans., '63-'64 Dodge 880 w/ 3-spd. standard trans., '59-'61 Imperial, '61 Plymouth except 318 and finally '62 Plymouth with standard transmission. For a common cores your rebuilder price sounds pretty strong, however, depending on the level of service and the cost/availability of parts for this unit, it may not be as out of line as it first appears.
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