The dang thing is out

Tom in TN

Tom in TN

Senior Member
Well, after 3 weeks of struggling, the starter is finally out of the car.
How did I get there? Holy Cow what an ordeal.
Took the steady rest bolt out
Removed the nuts of both motor mounts
Used a bottle jack and vertical 2x4 to lift on the right front corner of the oil pan rail – just behind where it is kind of thin.
Jacked the engine up about an inch
Removed the radiator bolts so it could float upwards as needed
Removed the passenger side motor mount.
Jacked the engine up another inch.
Took the brush guard band off the starter
Rammed the starter towards the front of the car, between the A-frame and the motor mount bosses and it came far enough that the starter nose came out of its hole and pointed the drive downwards and dropped the starter out the bottom. FINALLY !!!

At least I now know for certain that the starter IS the problem. Looking through the brush cutouts, I see some very short brushes, some severely worn commutator bars and a couple that are dulled and rough. Turn the armature by hand and you can watch the brushes bounce up and down as they ride over the dulled bars.

For those that have expressed their opinion and given advice, I thank you one and all….and curses on the Ford Engineering team who didn’t design this to be easily removed.
 
Congratulations upon your success, but you should not have needed to go through any of this dismantling. I've removed several starters from y-blocks without doing any of that.
Makes me think you have non-standard motor mounts, or motor mounts on backward or an un-usual starter drive that was replaced by a previous owner.
Do you have the proper year shop manual for your car? If so read it and you will find you went through a lot of work for nothing.
Look at the pictures provided in the shop manual of the starter drive and compare it to yours (Fomoco had two different types that don't look alike, but both work as well and are easily removable as well). If the one you have doesn't resemble those pictures in the shop manual, you need to get an original or new duplicate of original if possible.
Motor mounts for the '54 thru '58 (and maybe later Y-blocks) are available from most popular repro parts suppliers. Those same mounts are even used for FE engines some years.
 
I wonder if the starter was a reman installed long ago. If the starter drive looks funny, that might be the case. Does the case and drive end plate have FORD markings?

Glad it finally came out for you. Live and learn. We have all been there.
 
Kind of obvious that the engine and transmission (with starter already attached) was bolted in the chassis as a unit before the body was lowered onto the frame. Henry wasn't considering that somebody someday might need to change out the starter.
 
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