High torque starter bind issue

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challenger57

cuda57
Joined
Sep 21, 2007
Messages
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Location
york, pa.
I put this out there before and thought it was the starter it's self so i replaced it and the first 5-6 starts seemed fine. Now it does it more than not. I have a big block 400-470 11:1 cr, thats why the h tq starter. I am using a ford type relay made for h tq starters. Getting 10-11 volts out of relay. Sometimes the bendix does not line up with flywheel and binds against it until I release the key then it jams in. I know fords sometimes nedd shims, I read mopars do not. What about slotting the top hole just a little and tip starter outward giving more cllearance. Any thoughts app. Its a 5 spd also. thanks
 
The starter itself on a Chrysler uses a larger top hole on the mounting ear, as is. The stud that came on the top side of the trans bellhousing, goes in to an oversize hole on the starter ear.

The lower hole is a direct fit for the bolt. Some people put a bolt up top, too, which doesn't make any difference. The top starter ear hole does not use a shouldered bolt with a larger diameter to fit the larger hole. The reason they do this is because all Chrysler starters index at the nose of the bendix cup, at the entry of the starter/ inside the bellhousing. The bendix shaft indexes into a hole on the bellhousing, so it has nothing to do with the bolt holes on the ear. It needs to have some play on at least one of the bolt holes on the ear, so the starter can index inside the bellhousing.

Pull the starter out and look at the nose of the bendix cup, as well as the index hole in the bellhousing. Make sure any galling or ugly high spots are cleaned up with a curved file on the bell and if the starter won't fit flush with the bell by hand and give you bolt clearance, your starter housing is in need of some tuning. Sometimes, if you sand or file the round index area around that bendix shaft, on the nose of the starter, it will help. I've run into a few aftermarket starters that fit like crap and had to do just that.

If you can pull the splash guard off, push the bendix into the ring gear and see how much it overlaps, then make note of it and take half as much material off of the entire radius of the nose, or at least the other side, so the starter can move away from the ring gear. It won't wobble, because you still have the nose indexing into the bellhousing, even if it is a little loose, because gears naturally want to spread apart when torque is emitted between them. The bellhousing will still catch the starter and gear and keep it from moving too far away. What I've done is put the starter in sort of loose, but flush and indexed the bendix into the ring gear with a screwdriver for a moment, just to move the starter out to where it needs to be, then tightened the two fasteners on the starter ear.

Hope this helps.
 
Also, I just noticed that this is an aftermarket 5 speed trans. does the bellhousing have an index hole for the starter at the tip of the bendix nose/ housing?

Some of them are supposed to use a bolt in starter index cup. Look inside your bellhousing and see if there is a steel cup bolted in place or a couple of threaded holes where one can go. You absolutely need to have one, if the bellhousing aluminum itself wasn't cast and cut for one, or the starter will eventually fall out of index, even if you crank the ears tighter than aluminum should ever be torqued, because the starter needs the support at the tip, when the bendix is engaged and torquing the ring gear. If you don't have support on the nose of the starter, it is a weak point and stresses the ears of the starter and the bolts too much.
 
Some of them also use pressed bushings into the index that may need cut centered, or offset, depending on how well your bellhousing was centered/ indexed on the block with your offset index dowels.

Its the round area to the right, inside the bellhousing.
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