Broken starter gear
 

Ok, so this all started with a dead Walmart battery, dragging, hard to start. Timing was a little high so I backed it off to about 4 degrees BTDC. Stock 350/4 bbl.

SO I go to walmart and they test the battery and it's bad so I get a new battery. 650 CCA. Same problem, hard starting. I get a rebuilt starter. Still hard starting. I solder the battery cable on the starter end and replace the batt cable end. Ground is new and solid. Grounds to block and body etc. Started fine before all this.

Tried rebuilt starter with/without one shim and new starter with no shims. I've never had to shim a starter before on a SBC.

SO I go buy a "new" starter. With a charger hooked up it started fine so I figure I had problem solved. Next day grinding somewhat again. The flywheel looks good. Anyway today the starter gear BROKE. ANy ideas WTF is going on here. 83 chevy k10 stagered bolt starter. 168 tooth? TH350 trans.
Should I replace the starter and add shims till the dragging sound stops?

Re: Broken starter gear
 

if you put the exact same amount of shims on that came off you should be golden. sometimes they get stuck to the bell housing or the old starter and you don't even know that they are there.

Re: Broken starter gear
 

Every starter has different manufacture imperfections. I'd add and take away shims until no more grinding.

Re: Broken starter gear
 

What ever happened to quality and workmanship? I'll try more shims I guess.

Re: Broken starter gear
 

it's castin imperfections.. every molding is different..
i had my first shimmed motor the other day also .. ive had small blocks since day one.. (well day one for me.. over ten years ago..)

Re: Broken starter gear
 

Once you have a starter happily installed always rebuild that starter. Re use the nose cone of that starter with that block. By doing this you already know how many shims it needs to be in its happy spot. I went through hell and back because I traded my old starter in as a core when it died. Furthermore, starters are relatively simple to rebuild.

Re: Broken starter gear
 

That's an idea too

Re: Broken starter gear
 

Adding shims to a starter is dropping the starter lower,they usually are not machined right so some maching by your own doing is requiredto bring closer to the flywheel. I would remove the solenoid and pull on the bell to see where it is hittting on flywheel