Another fine repair article by Stefan Steinmaier! -Dan
Imagine you sit in your Plymouth and start up the engine. What do you hear before the smooth rumbling of the V8 or Slant 6 cheers your ears and senses? Well, it’s the sound of the starter. In many cars the unit has done its job for many years now, and unnoticed it might have become louder and louder every year until it finally became very noisy. This occured to my own Sport Fury, and I excused this noisy behaviour with the age it is; and as it is – pronto! But, due to some spare time (I had to wait for the bearings of my power steering unit), I decided to give the starter a long deserved overhaul.
To begin, the battery and the starter cable should be disconnected. It takes three bolts to romove the starter from the bell housing. To dissassemble the starter unit remove the two screws on the back of the unit. If it doesn’t fall apart immediately hit it softly with a plastic hammer around the housing.The housing is removed and the spindle slips out.To disassemble the bendix from the head two screws have to be removed…... then the bendix is free.The splint can easily driven out with a punch. Then the bendix unit can be removed from the rod.The rear clamp must be pulled back and …... the starter drive comes out. Check the drive for bad teeth! When reassembling the spring should be greased.If this disc has a gap, then the bearing is worn out.There are four bearings to replace. One is in the head section, the second is in the starter drive, the third is in the middle plate and the last one is in the backing plate......Most likely all four of them are worn out during the years. Ask for oil-impregnated bearings!Check also the main rod, just in case! Usually the bearings are much softer than the main rod and it should be ok.This is what happens after a while if the starter is driven with bad bearings. The metal plates of the spindle may strike against the magnets in the housing.Here, three pieces with new bearings. The old bearings are laying next to the new...Starter drive and middle plate reassembled and equipped with new bearingsCheck the brushes. If necessary, now’s a good time to replace them.Four screw drivers hold the brushes in position – just another way to assemble the unit with two hands only.Don’t forget the shim!Great - everything fits.The front of the starter housing slips into a rod on the head ...... while the backing plate slips into the slot on the housing – no way to fail.Ready for test. Negative cable on the housing and positive on the screw where the starter cable belongs. How does it sound now?
Finally it’s done! All excuses, “it’s an old car and it is as it is” have been proven wrong. The starter gives now a smooth, quiet and powerfull noise, just as it was when the Fury was still new. The noise is comparable with a new, modern car. Give it a try! I takes not more than 3 hours to get the job done (excluding the time you have to wait for the bearings).
I used this informative link to rebuild a starter for a new project. Great information. My splint was screw in, and essentially the same. when done I found out I rebuilt the wrong starter. I now have a rebuilt 318 starter. Rick
