starter top bolt
 

Hey everyone! Swapped out the starter with one from rock auto brand was Remy. It works great, but I could not get the top bolt in. Must’ve been all around it and just could find the hole :censored: so I left out. I read that some people leave it out because of the pita placement. I did wrench the bottom 2 down pretty good.
Whatcha all think?
I would hate for the starter to chew up the flywheel!
Thanks

I would mark the two, and see if they back out. If not, then I wouldn't worry about it.

I can't say on these Ford motors but in everything that I worked on over the years, you couldn't leave a starter bolt out without having trouble down the road. Usually the the other starter bolts would start loosening very quickly and without the other bolt, they would often bend. My recommendation is to get the bolt back in there where it belongs. I've found on starters that it's usually best to install the hardest to install bolt first and to leave all of the bolts VERY loose until all of them are started and only then tighten them down.

Thank you! your reply stuck in my head, so today i crawled under and was able after much manuvering able to wrench it down.
Had a very hard time getting positioned with my left finger by the hole and my right hand holding a 4” extension with a 13mm socket on the end secured with a little electrical tape to keep the bolt from falling.
Thanks

Awesome! Good thinking with the electricians tape.

@joe51 you probably saved a fellow Senior Member a boatload of trouble down the road somewhere. Speaking for both myself and the OP, thanks for a useful post.

You're both welcome. I'm just trying to save someone else from making the same mistakes that I've made.

Just a note: getting the top starter bolt in is a PITA if you're doing it blind. However, if you are having difficulty with the top bolt, you can pull off the passenger side tire and wheel well liner which allows you to get a better visual on the top bolt.

Always start all mounting bolts (for any item) before tightening any of them down

You're supposed to but most professional mechanics are in hurry so they fully tighten each one as they install them. Other people see them doing it and just copy them and don't realize that they're doing it incorrectly. I was taught to install all of the bolts, then tighten them hand tight and then tighten them in stages. And to tighten the one nearest the center and then work my way out from there. Doing it that way helps spread the load evenly across the bolts and across what ever items that you're bolting together.

All they have to do is get the first few threads caught on each bolt, then they can zap them down with an impact using an appropriate pattern if they are in a hurry