starter shimming

[jonathon]

Is there an easy way to shim a starter on a Chevy?

My next day off is going to be spent replacing the starter and doing a tune up on my mom's S-10 4.3

 

[colbystephens]

i think not. i ended up calling POWERMAD who lived nearby at the time because I'd spent a few days dicking around with it. Ofcourse, he had the damn thing bolted up in a matter of minutes, shimmed perfectly... bastard!

 

[RudyO]

Should be directions with the new starter. Isn't really that hard, and some starters have a couple shims that come with it. "Help" section at the parts stores have a package of them if you have to go to a thicker shim. I find that if you use the original ones it is pretty close.

 

[apache]

Ive never had to shim up but rumor was if you can take a straightened out paper clip and stick the end in the valley of the ring/top of starter gear its good to go.

 

[RudyO]

2x on the paperclip trick. Last starter I bought came with a lil metal rod to do this.

 

[blazin_blazer]

its a 1/8'' rod inserted like so:

shim 1 side pushes them tighter together, shimming the other side pulls the gears apart, i'm not sure which way does what,...you can figure it out which way is which

 

[sweetk30]

in my experence and opinion shimming a gm starter means 2 things.

1 it has a bad started gear nose.

2 motor work was done and the crank is now off position from stock.

so shimming a starter is a wast of time.

 

[Fordum]

But what about the ones that come from the factory shimmed?