SA-- Bad starter bendix??

Hey, y'all.
Thanks for all your past help. My SA is giving me fits today. First really nice day of Spring out here, sunny, 50 degrees, nice breeze, etc. I was going to get some work done on it, but the starter is acting up. Doesn't turn the engine over, but makes a noisy clatter. I thought the starter gear was stripping against the ring gear (or worse yet, the other way around.) Anyway, I pulled the starter off and looked it over. The starter gear is pretty badly worn, but I don't think that's the problem. When I rotate the starter gear forward on the bendix by hand it goes forward smoothly and freely, but if I keep turning gently when it bottoms out at the end, it pops free with a click and about a half or third of a turn before it catches and clicks again. I figure the bendix is shot, but I'd like to hear from you guys on this to make sure I'm on the right path. If that is the problem, where can I get the drive assembly? Thanks in advance,

Darren

The drive you are describing is called a "barrel" type drive. I assume due to the clutch caseing. I am somewhat nuetral as to the benefits of this particular drive. Many of the starters I rebuild have this style drive and have very little use(low hours)on a previous rebuild but show a lot of wear and poor engagement. I myself have not had extensive first hand use as my tractors are set up with the old sping style. However,I use the spring style in 100% of the starters I rebuild.

He once put the wrong armature in the starter of my 1066. That happened almost before my eyes as he did it while I waited, and talking with another customer. He never asked and mistakenly thought it for a truck engine, as I also had trucks. 1066 didn't fire up very well turning backwards. I always took half the blame for that one. He had another customer in the shop, I had been wanting to catch up for some time.

You touch a main point rebuilding. Many times it is the condition of the tractor(or operator abuse,one & the same) which will affect how well or how long a rebuilt product will last. I do not, however, excuse myself or other rebuilders of being culpable. Recently I finished approx. 80 carbs ranging from H/M up to the C-301. I try to rebuild in somewhat of an assembly line mode and 6 carbs at a time fit on the bench. I had just finished putting 6 M carbs together and they were in the painting pile when somethinng in my mind kept tickling me. After about 30 minutes or so I realized the I had way too many Idling jets remaing on the bench. Sure enough, after tearing them apart, I saved myself a good dose of lively customers. Whew! On the other hand I had one gentleman buy one of my rebuilt starters. If I remember correctly, he was invovled in the movie business or something close to it, so it went next day air(expensive for a heavy starter). Next day he was swearing up & down about how this starter did not work & wanted another flown out next day air. He even went so far as to call the better business bureau. Yeah, fun! They called where I work. To shorten thiis story somewhat, That same gentleman called back to say the starter was not the problem in the first place, but the fact the tractor was improperly grounded.

Finally, to end this with my first train of thought to your SA starter problem; Barring some other possibilities, I bet you had a Cub drive instead of the (A/B/C--H/M--300/400 drive all the same). The Cub drive is identical but with an opposite rotation, so the bevels on the starter drive did not match the bevels on the ring gear. They would cancel each other out.

On the other subject of putting things together wrong, or leaving pieces out, I tend not to be too critical. Over the years I have done my share, like putting 300 together with crown gear on wrong side of pinion, clutch disc in 130 backwards, to name a couple. I am not a mechanic, I was a farmer, as a farmer I relied on pro help to do tractor repairs, I did most equipment repairs myself. This tinkering with tractors is new to me in the past 10 years. I did demand being informed in the past. I'm sure I was a rebuilders nightmare. I get along quite well at this as long as I chase everyone away while changing a clutch, or putting a crown gear in.

I ment to say the threads would cancel out instead of the bevels. The bevels probably did not even touch since the starter's spinning would cause the opposite drive to want to retract on the threads rather than engage. My apologies!