killing the starter

[big dan]

alright, I know that there is a lot of talk about starters on here and I have learned a lot. replacing starter drives is one of the things Im glad Ive learned cause I have to replace one ever 3 or 4 days. I am using the correct starter, the correct flywheel that is in good shape, I am setting it up correctly with 1/8" clearance between the shaft and the flywheel. its a mild 350 with an sm465. Ive broke whole housings and was told that it was because of fast timing. slowed the timing and that quit but then it started breaking the starter drives. I was told it was because of my cam but I have never heard of such a thing. can anyone tell me why my truck keeps eating starters? in the mean time, thank god for lifetime warranties and thank you guys for all your help.

 

[JEBSR]

The only times I have seen entire nose cones break was when running way to much compression/timming for a stock starter, when the timming was to far advanced and kicked back, and when not shimmed properly.

Are you running the rear brace that goes from the starter cast to the engine block? If not sometimes it helps by stopping the starter from flexing under hard load.

What is your timming set at? If it's advanced enough to cause this problem this often, it is way to far advanced anyway.

More often that not it's the shimming of the starter. Disconect the battery and pull the two solenoid bolts so the you can pull the bendix out completely and see how it meshes with the flywheel. The teeth of the starter should be about 3/4 of the way into the flywhell teeth. If it is too close then it will cause exactly what you have going on due to the gears binding together and putting to much pressure on the starter drive and nose cone. If it is too far out it usually just breaks teeth and jumps out.

 

[diesel4me]

something's wrong still...

You must have missed something--if the gears are meshed properly,the starter should not suffer any damage..make sure the flexplate isn't warped,or has any "low spots" on the teeth..also ensure the starter's aramature isn't bent--its not easy to check without taking it apart,but if it is bent,the starter drive will wabble around and tend to skip or bind up intermittently..many get tweaked when a kickback occours,and go unnoticed..


Some dirt track racers I know have had starter issues like this on chevy V8's for years,due to high compression,advanced timing and big cams,etc..many of them found if they put a kill switch in the HEI and shut off power to the coil before cranking it over,the motor spins over fine without kicking back or binding--then once its turning over at top speed,they hit the switch and turn the spark on,and it fires right up..beats having to retard the timing just to get it to crank normally..

 

[big dan]

what is the possibilty of a warped sm465 flywheel? they are pretty thick so I would think it would be pretty hard to warp one. Ill check all the teeth on it tomorrow and check my starter shaft just to see. also gonna recheck and see if the clearance is set up right. so far this starter has outlasted the others by a few days so Im feelin pretty good about right now but still nervous. Ive got a spare starter and two spare starter drives so I wont get stranded somewhere. thanks for the help guys.

 

[diesel4me]

rare but s*** happens!..

A manual flywheel has a replaceable ring gear--it is merely "shrunk" onto the flywheel ,if you heated it up with a torch it'll come right off!..while its very rare to have any trouble with a flywheel for a manual tranny,they still can have ring gear troubles..

I saw one ring gear come right off on one guys plow truck,after plowing for a few hours straight!..clutch heated the flywheel up enough to loosen the ring gear--he shut it off to go get a coffee at McDonalds,and when he went to start it, the ring gear came off!.. --we had to bust it into peices and remove it thru the inspection cover hole,and push his truck to start it !..

Also ,the flywheel can wobble on the crank if bolts loosen,or if dirt was trapped between the two..also if the bellhousing isn't aligned perfectly,the starter drive wont contact the ring gear squarely,since the starter on most SM465's bolt to te bell,not the engine block ..but I'm betting its cheap rebuilt starters that are causing your woes..might be time for a new "mini" gear reduction style one, instead of "lifetime" Auto-Zone rubbish or similar crapola..