Is this starter gear and/or fly wheel toast?

[Katahdin]

Wondering what you guys think of the damage here. I plan to rotate the flywheel for a more thorough inspection when my better half gets home tomorrow. Thanks...

 

[JDToumanian]

The flywheel looks about the same as most that I have seen in deuces.... I don't think that's too much wear, the teeth are supposed to have some bevel shape to them.

The starter looks worse than most I have seen, but I wouldn't have guessed that it wouldn't work. Was it grinding when it tried to engage?

Jon

 

[chemicaljohn]

I would definitely change the starter before it trashes the flywheel. The flywheel doesn't look too bad, but the starter gear is on it's way out. I'm guessing the starter is spinning before it's fully engaged? Saw something similar on a HMMWV I drove in Iraq, it got harder and harder to start because the flywheel was losing teeth, eventually they had to change the flywheel because it went on too long.

 

[Katahdin]

It's been grinding intermittently which seemed to be better when I replaced a bad battery, but then it started grinding again. Finally I decided to park it where the snow plow won't hit it and dig in.

 

[renovate7]

I think, but am not sure, that the metal on the starter drive is supposed to be softer than the metal of the ring gear. This way the easy to change starter is damaged before the ring gear. Can you find a pic of a new ring gear to compare it to? They are supposed to have a bevel. I think your starter drive is toast.

 

[Katahdin]

Thanks guys!

Sounds like "Jolene" is getting a new starter for Xmas. If I see any carnage after rotating the fly wheel I'll be sure to post the pics...

 

[stumps]

Be sure the fuel is off before you try to rotate the flywheel. Deuces start very easily... especially when you don't want them to.

-Chuck

 

[tm america]

thats normal wear nothing to be concerned about ..you can take a whizzer and touch up the starter gears if you want but thats not bad enough to worry about

 

[Ord22]

you wanna check the starter solenoid. the bendix in the starter might not be fully engaging the flywheel when starting the engine. you might have to bench test your starter to make sure.

 

[Jake0147]

If you're going to get a new used starter, you may consider carrying that one to an auto electric shop first. They should be able to come up with a pinion, and "probably" can clean up some working but sticky internals. It was at one time an "off the shelf" starter, although it's not as current as it used to be. Some parts may be trickier, the worst they can do is not be able to help.

 

[Katahdin]

I rotated the fly wheel today with the help of my wife spotting the gear teeth for me. We had the fuel stop pulled out, transfer case in neutral, transmission in high gear, parking brake on, wheels chocked, etc while I rotated the drive shaft coming out of the transmission with a large screw driver.

Here's a couple more pics but nothing worse than these.

The starter is a 2920-226-6545, manufactured May 1972 but rebuilt at Tead May 1988. SS does not have the TM downloadable so I'm assuming this model is older/less common? I did verify it has 12 teeth.

Starting to think the solenoid drive is the issue. I found the starter TM on TPUB.com and am looking over that. I'm half tempted to order a newer model replacement starter now and fiddle with this one to keep as spare but I need to sleep on it....

 

[Kohburn]

sounds like the solenoid is a bit sticky or weak - the teeth don't look too bad but i would get the cause sorted out before things get worse.