Chevy 283 engine flywheel wear (general question more than 'tech' I think) (1 Viewer)

[allofthisforyou]

Hi,

I've got a 1958 Chevy 283 V8 in my '74 FJ40 and after pulling the starter (it went on me a little while ago), I noticed that four teeth on the engine flywheel (as well as the starter's teeth) were worn down by about 1/8 of an inch (see attached pic.).

I'm just wondering if anyone knows what might have caused this (was it the result of the starter "seizing" and the flywheel's teeth forcing their way through the starter's teeth?), and if it would be alright to just replace the starter with a rebuild or if I should replace the entire flywheel? I'm guessing that I should replace the flywheel but if I can safely drive around with that kind of wear for a while (and not do any damage to the starter) that would be great...

Thanks for any insight.

 

[baxter650]

If it's only four teeth i'd just file the angle back on those four, the teeth have an angle on them to help the bendix to engage them.
Bendix gears for a small Chevy are cheap enough to take a chance.

 

[allofthisforyou]

Thanks.

When you say file the angle back into them which angle do you mean? e.g. should they go from:

..// to: //
/ . \ .. / \/ (looking from the front)

or:

-----\ to: -----| (looking from the side)
------\ ... -----|

Sorry for the crappy "schematics" but I don't think I could do a much better job in Paint or anything like that (hopefully you can still understand what I'm referring to)... You can replace the "."s with " "s (it seems multiple spaces are deleted in posts) but I doubt that would make much of a difference.

I'll try to file the angle back into them first but I was told I can just change the ring gear instead of the whole flywheel so I might end up doing that if the filing fails.

Also, do you happen to know why this might have happened? Was it because of the way I was driving, because the starter seized up and the flywheel/ring gear forced its way though the Bendix gear, or was it something else?

Thanks again for any insight.

 

[baxter650]

My bad, on the Chevy the angle is cut into the bendix.
However i would still hit those teeth with a file just to take off any burrs and run with it.
The starter should throw the bendix into mesh before it starts to spin.

 

[allofthisforyou]

Sweet, I'll do that and see how it goes. If the starter goes I'll replace the ring gear before trying it again.

For anyone else reading this: any ideas as to why this might have happened (I'm guessing it's because the starter seized or something (since that's the only thing I know of that interlocks with the ring gear but if there are other explanations it would be good to know)?

 

[zebrabeefj40]

This is what happens when the starter doesn't engage the flywheel correctly before it starts spinning. When you hear the starter go "zing" on the flywheel instead of cranking the motor over. It is caused by the starter being misaligned with the flywheel. You can find shims at the parts store to align the starter. IIRC most Chilton/Hayes/Motor manuals detail how to align a Chevy starter. I'm sure someone on the web has a nice page about it too.

Nick

 

[allofthisforyou]

Thanks, I've never heard anything other than cranking when I was firing this truck up. The last time that I started it (before it died on me) I heard a loud squealing type sound coming from the engine compartment after it started. I opened the hood and it seemed to be coming from the alternator but I wasn't sure. I ignored the noise and started driving and within about a minute I heard a 'bang' from the engine and the noise stopped (the sound of the engine was unchanged). My voltmeter seemed to be reading low (which again had me thinking it was the alternator), and the truck died after five minutes or so and wouldn't start up again. After no luck with jump starting I pulled the starter and took it in for testing (to confirm the results of my own bench tests) and it turned out to be in fairly bad shape on the inside (cheaper to buy a rebuild). The teeth of the Bendix gear were in pretty rough shape too. I thought that 'squealing' might have been related to this but it doesn't sound like it...

Because the damage is to only 4 teeth, would this have been an isolated incident (i.e. happened all at once due to something in the starter breaking and the Bendix gear not moving out far enough) or would this damage been the result of multiple misaligned starting attempts (the starter was misaligned when it was installed)? I figure it was the former: that the Bendix gear didn't move out far enough the last time I started it, barely meshed with the ring gear, and ripped through it (and itself) with just enough force to turn the flywheel one last time, and start the engine, but that might not be the right way to look at it (I just figure if the starter was originally misaligned, and if this was constantly taking place, that there would be damage in multiple spots on the ring gear (I turned the ring gear around 360+ degrees and only found damage to those four teeth)).

Thanks again for any info., I'd really like to figure out what happened to this thing, so that I can prevent it from happening again, so pretty much every idea, insight, and piece of info. is helping me figure this out at the moment.

 

[ToyotaDon]

What it sounds like may have happened is that the starter stayed engaged and possibly running during that last start cycle (it does make a strange noise). If you had turned the key off and the starter kept spinning, this could have been verified, but it's too late now.

I'm not sure how that relates to the wear, but I know that I've seen ring gears with that kind of wear that go for many miles as long as the starter is in good shape.

 

[allofthisforyou]

Yeah, I probably should have turned off the engine when I heard that... Oh well, better luck next time I guess...

Thanks for the reply, I'll pick up and install a rebuilt starter today and see what happens.

 

[allofthisforyou]

The rebuild works great Hopefully it'll stay that way.

Thanks for all the insights.