The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay starter trouble.

It seems that my starter is having fits. It stopped the other day while turning the engine over, so I got out, pulled the coil wire(just to be safe) and turned the engine over by hand, got back in and it started fine. Well, today it did it again, and it still won't do anything. So I pulled the starter and it had a bunch of oil on the contact surfaces of the housing(where it touches the flywheel and gets a ground. Could this cause it to loose its ground? And will another starter that I have (model 1107108) fit my flywheel? I researched it and the Chevs of the 40's site said that it will fit a '38 through '48. Is that it? It came off of the engine that WE b Old had in his truck. I measured the distance between the teeth on both one starter and the other and they both had the same distance between the teeth, this tells me that the replacement will work but I don't want to tear up the flywheel.

Well, I cleaned it all up, put it back on, and it just barely cranked over, then stopped. I messed with the battery cable and it finally started to work right, it seems that it had lost grip on the battery post or something. But can anyone still tell me if that other starter will work on my truck?

It looks like that starter should fit up to 1954. click here

As stated above, it looks like 1938-1955 truck starters are interchangeable, except for hydra-matic equipped trucks in 54/55 (and the forward-control (D-D) vans).

Thanks. Don't know what the deal was, I made sure that battery cable was tight on the battery post before starting it, and then it just quit, but take it off, clean it up a little, put in back on, it does the same, and then mess with the cable and it works great, it just doesn't make sense. Oh well, I'm not complaining, it works now. I guess I know that if one goes out, I can use the other.

JDL,
I had a similar problem on my 65 Panel Truck, it turned out to be the battery cable. There was nothing wrong with it visibly, but we used a set of charger cables from the battery to the starter and it turned right over. Replaced the cable and no problems since, sttripped back the insulation on the old cable and about 6 inches backf from the tterminal end the cable was shot. Just a thought.
Mike

battery cable can cause you a lot problems and lead you astray..
I know that for sure..

the other starter should work but might cause your truck to run hot..

Joker, can you elaborate on that starter causing the truck to run hot? I've been contemplating changing out the battery cables to a heavier, cable set. What gauge should I get and how long should they be?

Ron's truck overheated. You got the starter from Ron. (bad joke)

You should have at least 00 cables on a 6V. The battery ground should go to the bell housing. There should also be a ground strap between the bell housing and cab and another from cab to frame. It doesn't hurt to put another strap from bed to frame for good tail light grounding.