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

Members, I have a 54 3100 with a key starter, I have just put everything back together for a start-up.
My starter only engages every 5-6 turns of the key.... it Vrrrrooms each time and then engages and turns over like normal.
Is this the solenoid, or starter or both? How can I see which one is bad? Can the local FLAPS bench test it and see ?
Or did I install wrong and the alignment is off.
Thanks

spinning without engaging is the starter, if the solenoid were bad it would just click

Bill

Thanks Bill

Change the starter drive. There's a one-way clutch in it that appears to be slipping intermittently instead of turning the flywheel. It's a pretty common failure of a worn-out starter drive. (sometimes called a "Bendix", which it isn't)
Jerry

I think that "Starter Drive" was called an overrunning clutch by DELCO-REMY?

Got her fixed boys, starts right up now. Thanks..It was the starter shaft.

Not sure what your mean "it was the starter shaft"???
Could you elaborate for us, someone else might run into to same problem.

DG

Denny: It was as Tim explained in the above post.
Thanks

So it was in the "Bendix drive" which it isn't but what I've always called it as do a whole bunch of us other old timers. http://www.google.com/search?q=bend...uLHsQKNm-TUDw&sqi=2&ved=0CD8QsAQ
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

Denny, I know I called it a bendix on my Harleys...But this is a new game for me...so i was told it was a starter Drive/shaft..whom am I to disagree...besides IT's fixed whatever it is.. HooRaa
Thanks

A starter "Bendix" (which is a brand name, BTW) has a ratcheting tooth setup instead of an overruning clutch, and a very coarse thread on the pinion gear which engages it due to inertia when the starter shaft starts to spin. There is no solenoid action involved in making the gears mesh, just starter armature rotation. The Delco-Remy style starter drive has an overruning clutch as part of its features, but there are several other parts to the drive assembly. The gear on a Delco drive is engaged into the flywheel ring gear by solenoid action before the starter armature starts to turn.

Engines which had a habit of firing a cylinder or two without actually beginning to run had a habit of disengaging a Bendix drive prematurely, necessitating repeated efforts at starting. An example of such an engine would be the Chrysler Corporation flathead sixes, and some of the early Ford overhead valve V-8's, the 239 and 292. These engines used a "follow-through" Bendix which remained engaged until the flywheel spun through one or two revolutions after starting. Heavy-duty Diesel engine starters use a variety of very rugged starter drives such as the Dyer Drive, or a Sprag clutch, or a couple of other high-torque designs.
Jerry

Thanks for the info.

Denny,

Check out this manual on Keith Hardy's website:

http://chevy.oldcarmanualproject.com/electrical/49dr324/index.htm

It shows Delco-Remy starters that use Bendix Drives, Over-Running Clutch Drives (like our foot-actuated starters), and Dyer Drives (I have never taken one apart but I think I have one).

Hey Jerry old buddy, when did you become a "Purist" I thought there were only a few of those around here on the forum. Oh I know technically there are several difference types of starter drives in use and I know technically what we have on our Stovebolts technically isn't a "Bendix" drive. But my point was that 99% of us still call it a Bendix and if we walk into our FLAPS and ask for a Bendix drive the dude or dudette behind the counter isn't gonna have any problem understanding what we want. I think a trademark such as "Bendix" has pretty much been generalized by anybody in the industry as a term for any over running starter drive in use today. Much as Bakelite is to Phenolic or Otis is to Escalator.
Yep, downloaded all that years ago Tim, its in my reference piles somewhere, but as I said, in spite of all that, I’ll without a doubt still gonna be calling an overrunning clutch drive a Bendix, it‘s hard to change 69 years of habits. Besides, things been way to quiet around here this summer and it’s a good way to get Jerry’s dander up. Sooomebody’s gotta stur the pot once in a while!
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

Denny, 40+ years of teaching knotheaded high school kids to use the right language when describing a part makes me drop into that lecture almost without thinking about it. Tools are another pet peeve- - - -"Gimme a flathead screwdriver" got this little spiel- - - -"A flathead is a Ford engine they quit making in 1953. Do you want a "common" screwdriver, or maybe a "cabinet" screwdriver?" Some kids finally got the message, and they're now the business owners and shop foremen, and the rest of them are pushing parts or working at Jiffy Lube, if they're in the business at all. I used to tell the kids if you don't have enough intelligence to fix cars, you can always become a doctor or a lawyer, or pick some other job that requires less attention to detail!
Jerry

So that's why I never made it in business! But I was a good greaser, Chevy parts man, now I did get the Doctors autograph down, but never could stand the sight of blood, lawyers and used car salesmen I bundle togeather and I never was very good at selling cars.
Think we bout beat this one to death dint we????

Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

Statistically, a doctor's first diagnosis for a new patient is correct 40% of the time. His second guess only brings his average up to 60%! He only has two models to work on, and they haven't changed any of the systems in a few thousand years! He gets paid whether or not his treatment succeeds, and he gets to bury his mistakes! Run an auto repair shop to those averages, and we'd be out of business in a couple of months! If I could fix it right the first time about 95% of the time, I made money. Let the comeback rate get up to 10%, and I'd have a rough time surviving! I think I made the wrong career choice 50 years ago!
Jerry