Bendix/Ring Gear Problem

[Clark]

1943 GPW (all matching numbers!)

Full Disclosure: I am not a thoroughly knowledgeable mechanic, wish I was.

Problem: Original starter motor functions fine (rebuilt). The bendix was not engaging the ring gear, with starter motor just making the "whirring" sound but engine not turning over. Found a small burr on the shaft that I thought was causing the problem, removed the burr, but that did not solve the problem. Found a NOS bendix from Turkey and installed that with the result that it functioned fine for a few starts, then the problem recurred (starter motor just "whirring" but no engine turnover).

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!! Thank you in advance!

[parker007]

is starter going the correct direction? i wonder if rpm enough. who rebuilt starter? is it 6 or 12 volt?

[slatgrille]

I had a similar situation 'many moons ago'. In my case it was the teeth on the ring gear were worn out in certain spots. If the engine happened to stop where those spots aligned with the starter, it wouldn't make contact. Had to turn the engine by hand to expose better teeth to the starter.

You could remove the starter and observe the ring gear as someone turned the engine by hand....even better if you had the crank. Just a thought.

Craig

[1942 Ford GPW 352nd]

1943 GPW (all matching numbers!)

Full Disclosure: I am not a thoroughly knowledgeable mechanic, wish I was.

Problem: Original starter motor functions fine (rebuilt). The bendix was not engaging the ring gear, with starter motor just making the "whirring" sound but engine not turning over. Found a small burr on the shaft that I thought was causing the problem, removed the burr, but that did not solve the problem. Found a NOS bendix from Turkey and installed that with the result that it functioned fine for a few starts, then the problem recurred (starter motor just "whirring" but no engine turnover).

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!! Thank you in advance!

Hello Clark,
Were you able to troubleshoot your troubleshoot your starter "whinning" issues? I am experiencing the same issue and my 6V starter was rebuilt as well. I had confirmed that the ring gear on the flywheel is integral. Any additional thoughts???

[JAB]

The ring gear is not integral, but shrink fitted on. You heat it evenly with a torch until it expands enough to fall off and heat the new one the same way until it falls on. There's several threads with pictures explaining the process. It'a actually easier than it sounds, but the hard part is that it must be removed from the engine to lay it flat on the work surface, so basically the motor or trans needs to be removed to access it.

[JIMN]

If it is just a clean spinning/whirring sound then it seems the gear is not making it to the ring gear at all and the problem is probably the starter.
My experience is that when the flywheel ring gear is worn severely and the starter can’t engage properly it makes a much worse very embarrassing sound.
Take out the starter and bench test it to make sure it operates properly and also with the starter out take a peak at the flywheel teeth like someone mentioned.
ALSO, make sure you have the proper size gear on the starter that matches the the flywheel. Don’t expect either to be correct.

[Jim Thomason]

They say that engines have habit of stopping rotation in the same location most of the time, when shut down. I had your same problem. Inspection of the flywheel gear reviled the front half of the flywheel teeth to be worn off for about one inch in this location. Probably because that is where the starter engaged most of the time. Looking at the starter: it had a thick washer and retainer parts to stop the forward ( engaging) motion of the bendix where it came up against the bell housing. I went to a thinner washer and removed some excessive metal from the tip of the bendix gear so it could engage deeper. It then worked. I know I will have to replace the flywheel gear some day, but that was 10+ years ago. JimT