Starter Headaches - Help!

[Rifleman]

I've tried searching the threads and can't seem to find any info that is helping me so far... I had been having trouble with my starter for some time and decided the solenoid was shot. I decided last week to finally take care of it and stopped at Autozone and picked up a new starter. I got home, pulled the old one, replaced it with the new one and...trouble.

The new starter sounded like it was maybe getting to much connection between the starter and flywheel...it would turn for a brief second then nothing. After doing some research I decided it most likely needed to be shimmed but I didn't have the time to go the auto store, buy shims, and come home so I decided to put the old starter back in and live with it for a while. With the old starter back in I'm having the same problem as with the new one...and there weren't even any shims in it to begin with!

Now, to compound my headaches, the shims I got from Autozone don't seem to match the bolt pattern on my starter...AND...all the advise I find about shimming a starter talks about a starter with two bolts...mine has three to mount to the block.

It's a '72 K-10 with a 350 and 4 speed.

I'd really like to avoid having the 'ol girl towed to the shop and ANY advise / help would be much appreciated.