My truck just recently hit 103,000 and when i go to start it sometimes all it does is make a really loud grinding noise almost like the starting is scraping against something so i turn the key back and go to start it again and it starts right up. would this be the starter like im thinking it is? and if so where is a good but cheap brand to buy that would last awhile? new to the ford scene and dont know what brands are good for these trucks.. anybody have any experience with any?

 

so helpful guys...

 

Just seein' if we could wait you out Woody. It sounds like maybe you have a bad spot on the ring gear or the starter is running at full speed before the solenoid tries to kick the starter gear into the flywheel, in which case it would make a heck of a racket, to say nothing of not being very kind to the ring gear. If you can take the plug out of the inspection hole on the bell housing and take a peek at the teeth on the ring gear while someone turns it over slowly with a breaker bar on the crank bolt maybe you can see what kind of shape the teeth are in. I don't think the starter is a piece of cake to get off, but you may have to do that to look at the operation of the "solenoid insertion of the starter gear" to see if there's a problem there and also what condition the starter gear is in.