Pulled the starter from my truck(52 with a 55 235 and a 6 volt flywheel) cause the starter stopped working. Bad brushes and lots of wear on the bushings. New bendix drive and brushes along with the bushings and I was ready to go...nothing. That was how I found all the wear in the linkage. That was solved...with a cap from a soda bottle(put over the start button on the starter. Thought I was so clever. Then the grinding started. Sometimes that bottle cap would twist a bit and mess up the start point of the switch. Sometimes it would stay flat and all was well. JB weld and a flat washer cured the issue. There is not a lot of distance from engaged and start That is why the suggestion from Hot Rod matters. Get a light and look at the teeth engage. Only way to tell for sure. If you have the battery hooked up, keep your fingers out of the way. If all seems to be the switch comes on too soon(not what I would expect with the wear in the likage, but I am not looking at your truck) then you can grind a bit off the lever that moves the switch, If the flywheel is worn, then you can, with care, push the ring off the flywheel and reposition it but that is a big project. It will require the transmission to be removed, the flywheel be removed and the ring pressed off without breaking it. It can be done, just takes some care. Rotate it about 60 degrees, freeze the flywheel and then heat the ring with a torch. Drop back on and it should be fine. Like I said work.
