Mini Starter

[Bitch'nBronco]

I read the mini starter thread Jon wrote back in 2013 and decided to give it a go... well it hasn't gone so well. I need some help, I've gone through 2 mini starters so far, one from a 1995 F250 5.8 and one from a 1994 Mustang Cobra (both manual). I love how fast they start but it seems like after the bendix disengages, the starter gear stays in contact with the flywheel teeth. The first one I pulled after failure (would not engage the starter, but starter motor ran) had a bunch of bronzey copper looking dust in the bell housing bump for the starter. Today after installing the Cobra starter, the same thing happened, Started just fine, drove around for 30 mins, bought some tacos, when I came back out to start it again the starter motor ran but didn't engage the flywheel.

I know the solenoid is fine and its getting the power it needs, when I look at the starter gear it looks like whatever bronze or brass bushing the starter gear rides on has been worn away.

My bronco has a 302 with ZF5 transmission. I'll post pics later today after my bronco cools down and I can pull the starter.

 

[Brush Hog]

When I installed my power
Master mini starter it required taking some measurements of distance between fly when and starter mounting plate. And based off those I had to add or remove appropriate shims to get correct engagement. Your starter might be engaging too much or too little causing it to not make contact with fly wheel.

 

[Bitch'nBronco]

Here are some comparison photos. The one wrapped in gold heat foil is the new one.

 

[Bitch'nBronco]

Here are some gear comparison photos

 

[Bitch'nBronco]

When I installed my power
Master mini starter it required taking some measurements of distance between fly when and starter mounting plate. And based off those I had to add or remove appropriate shims to get correct engagement. Your starter might be engaging too much or too little causing it to not make contact with fly wheel.

What did you use for shims?

 

[bigmuddy]

Not that you won't but I finally gave up and just bought the large one for the Pickup that the ZF came from.

 

[Bitch'nBronco]

Not that you won't but I finally gave up and just bought the large one for the Pickup that the ZF came from.

The first starter I had go bad is the one that would have gone to my ZF, the 1995 F250. I figured that would be the easy win... but I lose again lol

 

[blade]

From the picture it looks like the gear isn't fully engaging the ring gear so it's destroying the teeth.

 

[blade]

Have you tried to spin it out of the vehicle to see if the gear is moving all of the way forward?

 

[Bitch'nBronco]

I'll give it a shot

 

[73azbronco]

Mine is a mini starter as well, but i am pretty sure it is from an f150 late 90's say 95 5.0 motor? Are they different enough from the f250 5.8 bellhousing? I went stock ford as the green machine one lasted two starts then fried itself internally.

 

[Broncobowsher]

Do you have the solenoid on the started wired to the starter cable, still running the stock fender mounted solenoid? If so it is wired wrong. That will keep the bendix engaged after release of the ignition key.

The starter spinning acts as a generator. That is back feeding the start cable that the solenoid is attached to.

Move the starter cable from the switched side of the fender solenoid to the battery side. Move the solenoid feed on the starter to the old starter power on the fender solenoid.

 

[Bitch'nBronco]

Do you have the solenoid on the started wired to the starter cable, still running the stock fender mounted solenoid? If so it is wired wrong. That will keep the bendix engaged after release of the ignition key.

The starter spinning acts as a generator. That is back feeding the start cable that the solenoid is attached to.

Move the starter cable from the switched side of the fender solenoid to the battery side. Move the solenoid feed on the starter to the old starter power on the fender solenoid.

I'm pretty sure that's how I have it wired, but I'll confirm. On the original fender solenoid I moved my starter cable to the battery side and then added the smaller wire to the side the cable was originally on.

 

[Bitch'nBronco]

@Broncobowsher this is how I wired it

 

[Brush Hog]

What did you use for shims?

Mine came with one. Had to unbolt mounting face of starter and it went behind that.

 

[brbuilder]

Mine came with one. Had to unbolt mounting face of starter and it went behind that.

Looks like starter shims are available on Amazon if the local auto parts store doesn’t carry them.

 

[Brush Hog]

Mine was shimmed to push mounting face out because I had too much engagement. If yours is not engaging enough you might already have a shim behind the mounting face of starter that needs to be removed. Just spit balling.

 

[Bitch'nBronco]

Yeah, looks like it needs to go further in. No shims at all. Still need to test to see what it's doing

 

[Bitch'nBronco]

Looks like it's kicking all the way out

 

[Speedrdr]

Don’t remember what kind of high torque mini is on mine, but it’s got a 1/2” of stainless washers that’s shim it out. Same problem as you are describing. I asked the shop that installed it if it was the correct one and not for an auto trans. They checked and said it was the right one. At some point in time I’m gonna have a SS shim machined so I can get rid of the washers.

Randy