Barrel type starter drive question

[Rainmaker Ron]

It has been noted that the barrel type starter drive that is commonly used to replace the Bendix design does not fully engage the ring gear teeth. Has anyone corrected this problem or found a work-a-round that is successful? If so, how did you do it? Also, does anyone know exactly how far the gear must be moved to locate it correctly? At first glance it would seem that a spacer between the starter and the flywheel housing would work but doing so would be relying only on the mounting bolts to hold the starter in position.

Rainmaker Ron

 

[pat in Santa Cruz]

that was one of Terry Burtzs favorite topics. I have not seen him on this site. You could email him privately. I'll send his address to your email address

 

[Michael in Sedona]

Ron,

I don't think this is exactly the same problem, but on mine I found that the starter drive gear did not move out far enough on the shaft because there was a little burr on the shaft itself. After filing off the rough place, it's worked great since.

 

[DaveB]

A lot of discussion of this topic but very little laboratory research .... so I guess we will just have to look at results. I have been using this drive for close to 10 years, thousands of miles and probably more starts that most others ... all under 12 volts power and the un-modified starter motor. By now, there are conservatively 16,000 of these drives in cars and very few if any known failures for the contact area reason.

I examined and measured the area of contact very carefully on many engines both in car and on engine stands and came to the conclusion that the contact area is more than sufficient for the needed torque and durability.

While looking at various starter drives and gears, it was most interesting to observe just how much thinner the ring gears are on modern engines with considerably more compression and horsepower. Ummmmmmm ? .... wonder if the ring gear on the Model A could even be thinner ?? !!
Dave Bockman

 

[MikeK]

5/32 of an inch. Either weld up the starter shaft set screw hole and move it 5/32" toward the motor, or cut a new woodruff seat and set screw hole 180 degrees from the originals, making the starter shaft dual purpose.