Does anyone know if I could just replace the starters gear? Sadly we cant reverse the gear like on our flywheels.
I recently replaced the flywheel gear due to broken teeth. Now the starter is grinding more often. The starter teeth also looked kind of grinded down but no broken teeth.

 

Maybe it needs shimming to mesh correctly.

 

thanks for the reply. The starter has no shims. Do they normally have shims installed. The flywheel has new ring gear so it shouldnt be grinding.
sometimes it wont engage and ill i do is clutch in and push the truck a bit and it starts.
where would I buy a shim?

 

None of the ones I have installed on my 86 needed shims. Just threw it out there if as grinding could have been from a misalignment. Shims can be bought off ebay if needed. Not engaging and push clutch dump doesn't sound like shim issue.

Hows your battery?

For peace of mind, last summer I opened the 35 year old starter rely by straightening the 4 bottom tabs to fine sand the internal contacts. They showed some decent amount of pitting and corrosion. Then sprayed the internals with contact cleaner.

Good luck.

 

yes you can .. search starter clutch , I think rock auto has them .

 

great picture. I might just replace the starter gear. It might also be that since I reverses the flywheel gear instead of buying a new flywheel gear. It still has the messed up teeth but on the opposite side. Started might still hit the bad flywheel teeth. I hope replacing the starter gear will remedy this. Or I could add a shim on the bottom starter bolt and it might not hit the bad teeth anymore.