The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay starter question

Now this may be a source of arguement, and I don't mean to git you fellers riled up, but, I suppose you know that God drives an old Chevy truck, and if I'm guessin' right, its a Big Bolt with a masher, or stomper, starter.

There ain't nuthin in this great universe that He done wrong, and the way He's figgered it, the simpler the better--that way, it don't go wrong while folks are tryin' to put it to use.

Now, as far as Chevy trucks go, well, He saw to it that they were made simple. They're strong and tough, and used properly as He intended, they just about last forever.

So, see here, the stomper starter, or as some call it, the masher starter on an old Chevy, I figger, was invented by God Himself.

Take a look at it and you will see what I mean. These old starter motors with the stomper pedal in the cab and the linkage to make it all work last a heck of a long time, day after day, stomp after stomp, and just keep right on crankin' yer old Chevy for ya.

Solenoids? What solenoids? We don't need no stinkin' solenoids!

A solenoid is just one more of them danged electrical contraptions filled with smoke and stench that will take a powder on ya when you really don't need it to, and there you'll set.

Now, someplace in these pages, there has been discussion about changin' out from a masher starter to one operated with one of them danged solenoids.

Ever time I see somethin' like that, I git a big itch in the middle of my forehead. Now, I'm tellin ya, but you can do however you please, that if you chuck yer stomper sarter and put in a solenoid driven crank motor, don't dare wave me down when you find yerself settin' in yer truck wonderin' what to do next. The notion might come to ya like, "Gol dern, now what in tarnation was the matter with me thinkin' that I outta put a new-fangled solenoid on my starter, when a stomper is simpler and works just fine in the first place?"

To see a little more how it works,'f'yant to, have somebody climb in yer truck. You go out and lift the hood and watch while yer buddy mashes the stomper, but have him do it slow-like. You will see how the linkage operates to engage the lever that drives the yoke inside the starter motor pushing the pinion gear into the flywheel, then makin' the electrical switch contact on top of the starter motor. What could be simpler?

Look what happened to the stomper starter in later years as it was "improved."

See, that jest proves to me that God is jest so much smarter than we are.

And that, my friends, is the story of the masher starter (called a mechanical shift starter in the engineering room at GM and Detroit Electric {Delco}), and I wish we had 'em today. I have NEVER had a masher starter fail to crank the engine

Same cain't be said for a solenoid operated starter.