helping a friend with a 1980 f800.has a new starter and ring gear.checked and the teeth are just touching when you manualy engage the starter drive.double checked with ford and we have the correct ring gear and starter.has replaced 4 starters in the last 3 years before i got envolved.we do not know if the bellhousing has ever been changed.it has a 429 and a standard trans. is it possible someone has installed the wrong bell.

 

How do you "manually" engage a starter???

Anything's possible - did you ask Ford about the bellhousing? Is the shim plate between the block & bellhousing? Is the ring gear installed correctly on the flywheel? How exactly have the starters been failing?

 

i left the cover off the bendix actuator and manualy push it down. have not talked to ford yet about the bell yet.can only comment on the last starter but the teeth were ground off.and the plate between the engine block and the bell housing is there.and o ya the ring gear was installed correctly.

 

Were the Bendix teeth worn off all the way across, or just at the rear (away from the starter motor)? Were they worn deep so nothing was left, or only at their tips?

 

Just the tips are worn off all the way across the teeth.

 

Then either the starter is wrong (Bendix pinion gear too small), or the bellhousing is wrong (starter mounts too far from crank), or the flywheel is wrong (too small).

 

I'm surprised a Ford dealer even knows what a 429 is anymore. Big dealer down the way from me had to special order spark plugs for the 351 and needed the '95s vin number to even look them up.

Adrianspeeder

 

Thanks for the help. Been away for awhile.after a lot of searching we were able to find a bendix drive that had a large dia. And gave us the teeth engagement we needed. All is well again. Thanks again.