hey guys, after some conversation about the chip in my starter i keep hearing that they usaly work just fine with a chip in the starterdrive gear and that it may be something on the flywheel. i dont realy know how to inspect that as its all together in a running car so when i had the starter out i just looked the best i could with a flashlight to see anything and then put my hand inside to feel for iregularities and found nothing out of the norm. all seemed uniform and ect? im still preety positive its that chip on the gear causing me trouble but thought id ask about inspecting things anyways tim
on fords you have to play games to get at the flywheel to inspect it. Probably the best bet is to get the starter out, one guy looking at the teeth with a flashlight, another guy turning the engine with a wrench on the pulley bolt at the front.
Tell us what we're workin' on here...then we might be able to point you in the right direction. Engine, make, ****** type, etc.
yeah i did that to, i pulled the starter and cant see anything wrong on the gear 5 or so inches in either direction of were it was when i pulled the jambed up starter out?
53 ford stock flathead 8 with stock 3 speed with overdrive manual. hmm id figured that if it was stuck solid that when i took the starter off that the stuck spot would have to be right there? tim
A big f***in' pry bar should get it rollin' around, if you pry on the teeth in one direction(careful not to break the teeth). Mark a tooth w/ a wax pencil or something. Roll the flywheel all the way around and do a tooth to tooth inspection.
You can directly hook up your starter to a battery to see if it's engaging. Watch your fingers though...
yeah starters working just fine. it locks up hard enough to be impossible to "rock it out" when its locked, its locked
Remember the drive pulls in from behind flywheel. Use your fingers to explore backs of teeth and surroundings. Make sure anyone helping you is nowhere near the starter switch while your fingers are in there...
so while were talking about it, what ive got on my drive gear is a chip on one side of one tooth. its not "skipping" or anything it just locking up. someone mentioned trying to file the chip smooth? its just on one side of the tooth? tim
I'd at least smooth it at to keep from scoring your teeth on the flywheel. I'm a little too precautious sometimes though.
haha nice yeah ill give it a shot, if i do find a funny spot on my flywheel what do i do? tear it all apart and put a new one in or??? cars only got 70,000 original miles on it so im preety sure its the starter but who knows
Tim, Check to see if there's any movement front to back when the flywheel's rotated, maybe the ring gear is slipping from the flywheel and is causing the binding with your starter gear. I looked at an old one in the garage and it seems that the ring gear has some "wows" in it. A long shot but worth a look. Flatman
The Jalopy Journal
