While you've got the starter out, do yourself a favor and change the drive unit with the gear on it. There's a one-way clutch in it that causes the identical symptom you're describing when it starts to slip. It would take a horrendous amount of slack in the linkage to get the armature turning before the starter drive engages with the flywheel.
Jerry

"It is better to be silent and be thought a fool than to speak and eliminate all doubt!" - Abraham Lincoln
Cringe and wail in fear, Eloi- - - - -we Morlocks are on the hunt!
There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. - Ernest Hemingway
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