The Ford Barn

Lembomw · 04-26-2013, 12:37 PM

Well, that was fun. I tried all the suggestions provided by the responders yesterday evening.

Put the car in 4th gear and rocked back and forth…..starter did not unlock.

Whacked the starter housing a few times with a 2 x 4 and hammer…nothing.

Removed the starter bolts and tired to wiggle it out…..nope.

Took out the long screws from the starter housing and removed the outer case leaving just the armature, wiggled the armature....nothing.

Tapped the front of the armature with hammer and 2 x 4 then tried wiggling….nothing.

Tried prying the pinon gear back from inside the bellhousing through that inspection hole….would not budge.

Nothing to lose at this point so got out my trusty sawzall reciprocating saw with a metal cutting blade and had at it. I was able to pry the end of the starter case away from the bellhousing just enough to get a long blade in there and cut the shaft. Went through it like butter.

Once I could see the flywheel and the pinion gear it as clear what was making it “stuck”. The pinion gear was slammed with so much force forward that the metal shield (or whatever you call that thing) behind the pinion gear was driven into the flywheel teeth and was lodged there. Took it off the flywheel and when removing the pinion from the threaded sleeve little broken parts fell out. I guess they were jamming thing from the inside also.

The flywheel looks fine.

Now it is just a matter of getting rid of the metal filings that are left in the bellhousing.

I don’t know if I want to put a regular starter in there again even if converted to 12V. Seems like there are many people who have problems with the stuck stock starters and I do not want to be cutting them off every few months. Does anyone have experience with the Gear Reduced Starter that Snyder’s has? It says it is for the 12V systems so the gear does not slam into the ring gear as hard as a stock starter does.

Again, thank you for all your suggestions. Unfortunately the easy way did not work for me this time.

Mark

04-26-2013, 12:37 PM	#1
Lembomw Senior Member Join Date: May 2010 Location: Orange County, NY Posts: 162	Starter Hung Up - Update Well, that was fun. I tried all the suggestions provided by the responders yesterday evening. Put the car in 4th gear and rocked back and forth…..starter did not unlock. Whacked the starter housing a few times with a 2 x 4 and hammer…nothing. Removed the starter bolts and tired to wiggle it out…..nope. Took out the long screws from the starter housing and removed the outer case leaving just the armature, wiggled the armature....nothing. Tapped the front of the armature with hammer and 2 x 4 then tried wiggling….nothing. Tried prying the pinon gear back from inside the bellhousing through that inspection hole….would not budge. Nothing to lose at this point so got out my trusty sawzall reciprocating saw with a metal cutting blade and had at it. I was able to pry the end of the starter case away from the bellhousing just enough to get a long blade in there and cut the shaft. Went through it like butter. Once I could see the flywheel and the pinion gear it as clear what was making it “stuck”. The pinion gear was slammed with so much force forward that the metal shield (or whatever you call that thing) behind the pinion gear was driven into the flywheel teeth and was lodged there. Took it off the flywheel and when removing the pinion from the threaded sleeve little broken parts fell out. I guess they were jamming thing from the inside also. The flywheel looks fine. Now it is just a matter of getting rid of the metal filings that are left in the bellhousing. I don’t know if I want to put a regular starter in there again even if converted to 12V. Seems like there are many people who have problems with the stuck stock starters and I do not want to be cutting them off every few months. Does anyone have experience with the Gear Reduced Starter that Snyder’s has? It says it is for the 12V systems so the gear does not slam into the ring gear as hard as a stock starter does. Again, thank you for all your suggestions. Unfortunately the easy way did not work for me this time. Mark