Starter hanging up (2 Viewers)

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Got a '78 motor with an O'Reilly's starter that is hanging up.

We have gone through 3 of these starters for various reasons. We had one starter explode, see attached.

We had one other that was hanging up and staying on once the motor was running we replaced it with a new one. This one was running great until today. We had to disconnect the negative of the battery to get it to stop.

IS this just a crappy O'Reilly's starter issue. Is there a starter relay that is before the starter that could be bad.

This is the one that blew up
1000011737.jpg
 
That pinon gear looks like it was chewed-up somehow. Does the flywheel ring gear look like it has fresh wear?

It sounds like you might have ignition switch issues. I thought that you'd find an stand-alone starter relay on a Ford, on these, it happens in the starter solenoid, iiac.
 
That pinon gear looks like it was chewed-up somehow. Does the flywheel ring gear look like it has fresh wear?

It sounds like you might have ignition switch issues. I thought that you'd find an stand-alone starter relay on a Ford, on these, it happens in the starter solenoid, iiac.
So you think the starter may still be good, but you think it could be the switch in the steering column?
 
also, I would "upgrade" to a later gear reduction starter
I've seen quite a few posts on mud about people buying gear reduction starters off of Amazon and having good luck.

Or should I source a FJ60 used

I've looked several times for a used FJ60 starter and then unsuccessful
 
The gear-reduction starter is actually a downgrade. The pinon gear on the newer (rebuilt or new) is on a smaller diameter shaft. Thus, given the same type and service-use of metal, the gear reduction starter is more vulnerable to breaking at the Bendix, like the carnage seen above.
 
I fried a couple OEM starters before learning about the later 2F gear reduction starters. Went for it and haven't had any problems for many years. Well worth it to upgrade, never had any breakage issues.
 
I’ve used 4 of the Amazon gear reduction starters in different rigs. About 15k miles on the one in my 60. 8k on the one in my 40. I’ve never had issues with any of them. I’ve bought the Premier Gear PG-16828 each time. They’ve ranged from $65-105 depending when I bought it.

I run the same brand in my Chevelle for the last 8 years with a very high compression big block and again, no issues.
 
At least all's well now. I use DB Electrical for a lot of stuff and only once I got a starter that hung up until I whacked it with a mallet to disengage it, but they replaced it ASAP at no charge.
 
Not sure, but can you still bump start an Fj40 with a gear reduction starter? And I'm not talking about push start and you pop-the-cltuch. I mean leaving it in gear and turning th key and the starter turns your Fj40 alive. I think that's one of the practical tricks to do in case your clutch pedal gives out. Not that it matter much, but always cool to be able to do something extra
 
Gear reduction starter in my ‘75 2F and with the Holley EFI, starting is near instantaneous
 
Not sure, but can you still bump start an Fj40 with a gear reduction starter? And I'm not talking about push start and you pop-the-cltuch. I mean leaving it in gear and turning th key and the starter turns your Fj40 alive. I think that's one of the practical tricks to do in case your clutch pedal gives out. Not that it matter much, but always cool to be able to do something extra
It’ll start even faster this way with a gear reduction starter. If you hear one, it’ll make sense. It spins the engine noticeably faster than traditional 40 starter.
 
/this\

You can even wheel a GR starter!

I had the Karma Cruiser at the Lone Star Roundup in 2009. Rock crawling a 3 on the tree is challenging on a good day. Eventually I found myself up against a rock without adequate gearing.

When this pic was taken, I had shut the engine off, put the truck in 1st Lo, and cranked the GR starter. It walked the truck right up the rock.😉
IMG_6973.jpeg
 
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Not sure, but can you still bump start an Fj40 with a gear reduction starter? And I'm not talking about push start and you pop-the-cltuch. I mean leaving it in gear and turning th key and the starter turns your Fj40 alive. I think that's one of the practical tricks to do in case your clutch pedal gives out. Not that it matter much, but always cool to be able to do something extra
Yes. The gear reduction starter is more powerful, not less.

Mark...
 
My gear reduction starter spins my engine so quickly it reminds me of the first “family” vehicle my wife and I purchased in 1980. An Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser with a diesel engine.. we were young and stupid but this had 2 huge 12v batteries cranking that starter. If you’re old enough, GM replaced that engine 4 separate times. When it finally received the Targetmaster diesel, it had 80,000 miserable miles on it, my wife with 2 babies in it had gotten stuck in every corner of ocean county

But..man, that starter could spin those pistons…just like my GR on my 2F
 
/this\

You can even wheel a GR starter!

I had the Karma Cruiser at the Lone Star Roundup in 2009. Rock crawling a 3 on the tree is challenging on a good day. Eventually I found myself up against a rock without adequate gearing.

When this pic was taken, I had shut the engine off, put the truck in 1st Lo, and cranked the GR starter. It walked the truck right up the rock.😉
View attachment 3865898

The starter doesn't create enough manifold vacuum to risk exhaust-backfire?
 

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