High torque starter bind issue

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.