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My truck was missing the foot pedal starter when I bought it. The previous owner installaed a thumb button starter instead. I want the old pedal back.

I found the full mechanism from the pedal all the way to the starter itself. On top of the starter that I found sits a switch that is initiated (circuit complete) when the pedal is pushed. This is all fine but I woudl like to use the starter that I currently have in my truck instead of this old looking one that I found.

My starter has a smaller mechanism attached to the top of it, in virtually the same spot that the switch is located in on the other starter. This mechanism is much smaller than the starter itself but proportionately resembels the starter; it is cylindrical and has some power terminal posts on the side neares the truck's firewall.

My question....finally.....

1) can this parasitic device come off the top of my starter and can I replace it with the small starter switch?
2) What is the parasitic device on top of the starter?

Thanks in advance.

Tom

That parasitic device on your starter is called the solenoid. it is basically a big relay combined with a magnetic device. the relay puts power to the starter motor, and the magnetic thing kicks out the starter gear. Im not sure if you can interchange it to the foot pedal thing.. Others will be able to inform you along those lines.

Tom,
The small cylindrical device on top of your starter is the "starter solenoid". Let me copy some text from http://www.howstuffworks.com/ :

The mechanical switch (which is what is on your other starter) is simply an on/off switch that is activated by the foot pedal. It simply closes the circuit to feed your battery's 12 volts to the starter motor.

I think you might be able to simply swap the two, but I will defer to those who have done it.

Thanks for the clarification. I thought that might be the solenoid but as a wise man once said, "it is better to thougth a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt." I think that pretty well sums up my mechanic'n life.

So all that is left is to know whether or not I can just swap the solenoid for the contact switch? Anyone done this? Do I need anything other than what I have described?

Tom

"IF" your starter has the contact lug on top of the starter under the solenoid(probably does not),you should be able to do the swap.
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I think you may have to change the whole starter or at least the housing.

Thanks Luke. I will have to take the solenoid off tonight and see what is under it.

Like I said, I found a bunch of good stuff at the boneyard in CO. I have to thank Little Jimmy for turning me onto the place. Anyway, there were several complete starters, switches and foot pedal levers there to chose from.

If necessary, can a starter be rebuilt without too much difficulty? The guy at the boneyard wanted $100.00 plus labor if he took it off himself. I did not have tools with me and decided I will be back in a couple of weeks and I will take my tools with me. Is this whole setup worth $100.00 or was I being hornswaggled?

I think 100 is a little high, but that is what "ME THINKS"
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They can be rebuilt without too much problem if you are able to look at things and figure out how they work.Read up on it and familiarize yourself with the components.I would ship on to you, but they are pretty heavy.I have a few for parts or possible rebuilds.

The soleniod starter has a couple of differences that will prevent you using it as a foot starter .
The linkage that throws out the pinion is quite different and the foot operated switch has a large contact on the body of the starter that you cannot duplicate without full disassembly and modification .
Much easier to get the right starter ,, open it up ,, clean the armature ,, lube the moving bits and fit it in the truck.

Thanks for all the good information. I took a look at my starter last night and the solenoid is not a removable part unless the entire starter housing is going to be replaced. So I will have to get a new starter.

My next question is about the voltage. When this truck came off the line I understood it to have a 6v system. It has been modified by the previous owner to have a 12v system.

1) What is required to "convert" from 6v to 12v? 2) What do I have to do for the "new" starter? 3) Do the old style starters, with the contact switch, handle 12v?

Tom

The 6v/12v issue is tricky, and here is why:

The foot-mash starters came in both 6 volt and 12 volt versions for 235s. The starters were 6 volt until 1955. Then Chevy used 12 volt foot-mash starters in their trucks from 1955 till 1960 or so. Then 61 and 62 truck 235s got solenoid starters.

The electric solenoid starters were also available in 6v and 12v versions in cars. The 6 volt was used in the '53-54 235 sedan motors for convenience. Then the 12 volt electric solenoid starter was introduced in 1955 and used in sedans until the 235 was discontinued in '62.

Why is all of this important to you? Because the 6v and 12v starters used different ring gears. If your truck was originally 6 volt with a foot-masher, I assume its a '54 or earlier truck. So it had a 6 volt foot-mash and a 139 tooth flywheel.

If your truck now has a electric solenoid, it can have two different combinations:

Either a 53-54 6 volt sedan starter running on 12 volts and using the stock 139 tooth flywheel.

Or it could have a '55-'62 sedan or a '60-'62 truck starter that has a electric solenoid and 12 volts. If so, the flywheel has been swapped to 168 teeth.

See, if you try to use a 12 volt starter with a 6 volt flywheel, the starter will chew the teeth off the flywheel.

Why is this important? Because if you've got the pre-'55 139 tooth flywheel, you've got to use a 6 volt foot-mash starter on 12 volts.

How to figure out what you've got:

Count ring gear teeth: 139 = original pre-55 ring gear, use a 6 volt starter.

168 teeth = 55-62 ring gear, use a 12 volt starter.

Look at voltage rating on solenoid. It should have "6V" or "12V" stamped into the solenoid somewhere. That'll tell you if you've got a 6v or 12 v starter.

If you've got a 6 volt starter now, then find a '54 or earlier foot-mash 6volt truck starter.

If you've got a 12 volt starter, find a foot-mash unit from a 55-60 model truck. It'll be 12 volts and a foot mash unit.

The ideal solution would be to use a 12 volt foot-mash starter from a 55-60 truck. Then buy a new 168 tooth ring gear from NAPA for 50 bucks. Remove flywheel and swap the 139 tooth gear to the new 168 tooth ring gear. (If it already hasn't been done by a P.O.)

It usually costs 80-100 dollars to completely rebuild a starter. But from what I've been told, its better to rebuild a 6 v as a 6v or a 12v as a 12v. Having a 6v rewound to a 12v usually won't work, because most shops can't rewind the armature for 12 volts, and a 12 volt armature won't fit in a 6v case.

And you can't turn a solenoid unit into a foot-masher. The starter 'nose' and pinion linkage is different.

I once had a 6 V foot-mash, a 6 volt electric solenoid, a 12 volt foot-mash and a 12 volt electric solenoid model on a bench. I took all 4 starters apart and tried to mix and match parts. I wanted to build a 12 volt starter with a 6 volt electric-soleniod pinion. It didn't work.

Hope this helped

Chip

My goodness Chip, even a simpleton like me can feel like they know what they are talking about after that explaination.

I dont think that I have any more questions now.

Thank you very much for the great low-down on these starters!

Tom

You're welcome! I'm glad that fighting with my 6v sedan starter can help others out.

Starter questions come up regularly here. I'm actually campaigning my answer for the "tech tips" section.
(hey oly, wink wink... )

Chip

Bluebird ,, I and many others on this board have been running 12v thru the 6v starter , with complete success for many years . The plan is to make sure you don't wind the engine over for too long at one time , the 6v starter then lasts fine .

Would this be the type of starter that I would need? It is a 12v starter and it looks like it already has the attached lever mechanism to contact the switch.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1840329158

If it is, I dont need any competition out here b oys!
Tom