The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay Starter pedal

What was the starter pedal used for. My guess is that there was no solenoid in the starter so the pinion can reach the flywheel ring, and so, you depress the pedal. Am I right? The truck I bought is already converted to 12 volt, has a starter, only start switch and no starter pedal. It the purpose of the pedal is what I proposed, should I cover the hole and forget about it?

you've got it, there's either a starter with foot activated engagement [all 6 cyl up to 1960] or one with key activated solenoid [V8s, 55 up] - cover the hole

Bill

Thanks. Just out of curiosity, I don't know if my motor is a 248 or 228 (motor number sais 228 but casting says 248. Anyway, since 248 was on 55's up, that is why it was an easy swap to a key activated solenoid or you can install one of the later on, say, a 50's 228 with foot activated starter?

yes, the solenoid starter was used on cars starting sometime around 1950, then on all trucks after 1960 - all it takes to put the solenoid starter into the truck engines is to match the teeth on the starter and flywheel, which is also a 6V - 12V difference, so it may be your engine came from a 12V that already had the solenoid or all the changes were done at the same time - GMC's didn't start 12V until 56 I believe, not sure how long the 248 went on

Bill

Manual transmission 6 cy engines in a pickup all used the foot activated starter through 1959. Hydramatic used the key activated starter as well as low cab forward models of 2 ton and up.

Ok, so the guy did a good job changing the foot starter to an electric activated one. Thanks.