Broken bolt on Bendix Spring

daveymc29

daveymc29

Well-known member
Just went to help with a truck that wouldn't start. 1929 Ford that had been out to a show and when the party that was showing it wanted to take it home, it wouldn't start. Knowing nothing of the circumstances surrounding the failure to start I went to the trucks location, indoor storage, and after checking all the fluid levels and a thorough visual, a friend and I decided to give starting it a try. We checked the lights and they had come on brightly so we were assuming the battery is fairly well charged. We first cranked it over by hand to make sure the engine turns. It has good compression but turned over a few revolutions so we tried with the starter. Starter spun with some growling noise but not moving the crankshaft so we pulled the starter. Bolt is broken so we took it home and replaced the whole Bendix drive and spring. Now the real problem, getting the old broken bolt back out of the flywheel cover. How is the best way to do that and what harm in leaving it in its resting place, wherever that might be?
 
There are plenty of Model As running about with "shrapnel" laying in the bottom of the bell housing. I wouldn't worry about it too much.
 
I just had the same puzzling situation, tried all kinds of tricks, but nothing. I did a search here on the site and found a great solution.

Here’s thanks to msprecher who posted the idea originally.

Go to Home Depot and buy this magnet:

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Empire-All-Purpose-Magnets-2-Pack-2708/203121065

Come back to your shop and stick the magnet on your flywheel, behind but up snug against the starter ring. Put your car in gear and push to rotate the engine a full revolution. Here’s what you’ll see. I borrowed the picture from the thread that gave me the idea. Good luck with it!

P.s. You’ll have two magnets in the Home Depot pack, so give one to a Model A friend. I did!
 

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I like the idea of a magnet.

Many have just put a glob of grease on the flywheel and rotated the engine and hope to pick up the broken bolt with the grease.

The magnet would seem to be more apt to get the bolt and much cleaner.

Please get the bolt out, you don't want that thing banging around in the flywheel housing.
 
Had the exact same thing happen to my '29. I already had one of those magnetic pickup tools that mount a small but powerful magnet on a flexible articulated shaft, and gave it a try. It easily followed the curvature of the flywheel housing and snagged both the broken nut and tab washer on the first try. Very happy!!
 
Two weeks ago Harbor Freight had those nice bar magnets on sale for 1/2 price, at 2 for $1.
I bought 10 packs to hold plastic on my modern car.
 
The magnet on the end of the flexible extended grabber tool, seems about the easiest to try first. Be sure that the magnetic head is not too large. I just recently took a motor aprt and found 6 broken bolts in the housing! I guess the previous owner didn't have much success in getting them out.
 
abachman3 said:
The magnet on the end of the flexible extended grabber tool, seems about the easiest to try first. Be sure that the magnetic head is not too large. I just recently took a motor aprt and found 6 broken bolts in the housing! I guess the previous owner didn't have much success in getting them out.
Click to expand...

I tried the flexible magnet tool first. It kept sticking everywhere but where I wanted to go. Then I tried the magnet on the flywheel and sweet success!
 
Well we now have one bolt and two magnets in that deep dark place. Engine runs fine so don't plan on adding more magnets to the mix. I don't know why the magnets leapt off the flywheel but it was obvious they did, we could hear the click as they attached themselves to the flywheel cover.
 
Bud Man said:
Had the exact same thing happen to my '29. I already had one of those magnetic pickup tools that mount a small but powerful magnet on a flexible articulated shaft, and gave it a try. It easily followed the curvature of the flywheel housing and snagged both the broken nut and tab washer on the first try. Very happy!!
Click to expand...

I had the same good results.
 
Remove starter motor, attach a rubber hose onto the end a portable vacumn cleaner hose, push the other end of the hose to the bottom of the housing, behind the flywheel and switch on the vacumn. Works every time.
 
This is what I found when I decided my engine was tired......9 broken bolts and bendix washers. They were all stuck to the housing in the muck laying in there. Not one of them was chewed up like it had been in contact with the ring gear20181020_161911.jpg

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk
 
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