Brokenhead,
I am like you... I take nothing for granted. Yes, the Transmission is in neutral, otherwise it would try to jump when the starter was cranked. However, that being said, I have had my son hold in the clutch while I tried cranking it and that did not help. Kind of a belt and suspenders approach, like you, just to see if there was something else. I don't know if you saw my post last Friday, but I did try a totally different 12V starter out of a running pickup my son had jumpering it to the 12V battery on my Suburban which runs fine. That did not help but I believe confirmed the 6V starter is properly matched to the ring gear on the flywheel because the 12V rattled like a chain drive but didn't turn it any better.... in fact, a little worse.
I do plan on putting this same starter and flywheel on the 216 I am targeting to replace the 235 before I install that one and coupling the clutch and tranny and turning it over before I install it in the truck, just to make sure I don't have the same issue all over again. This will be easy to test. That will come in the next week or so.
