Took starter out and found that the flywheel ring gear was walking out. The starter pinion gear was worn and not meshing with the ring gear. It was hammering the gear off. Kept turning the flywheel with the crank and lightly taping it back tight. Then I will stake it to the flywheel next. Wish...
Started it up to pull back in the garage and heard the knock. Pulled it in and proceeded to use a 1” wood dowel rod to listen and find the noise (old trick my dad taught me). Seems like the majority of the noise was coming from th starter area.