Mini starter

[Lenny351]

I replaced the original style starter on my 1987 5.0 with the mini style from a 1993 model. it is the one with a solenoid on the starter. It hasn't installed for very long, maybe three months. Today it started making a lot of noise so i removed it and found that the teeth on the starter were chewed up. The flex plate looks pretty good. So I took it back to the parts store. They did warranty it but while we were researching the different starters we found that the original style starter has a gear with 9 teeth. the later model mini style has 10 teeth. The counter guy at the parts store blamed that for the gear being chewed up. I tried to explain the flex plate and starter to him but he felt that the number of teeth were this issue. So my question is, have any of you ran into issues with converting to a later model starter and is it common knowledge that they have one more tooth? I was not aware of that but still feel that it would not have a bearing on wether the gear would get tore up. Thoughts? Thanks in advance.

 

[broncojunkie]

Flywheel is same for both cars so tell the guy he's a moron. But the teeth getting chewed up makes me wonder if it needs shimmed. It may not be lining up properly. Any chance you took a pic of the carnage?

 

[Lenny351]

Here is the Flex plate. I don't have the starter as I had it replaced under warranty

 

[broncojunkie]

You could always put a little paint on the starter gear and reinstall it. Bump the starter a few times with the ignition disabled and then see what it looks like. That should tell you what kind of engagement you're getting.