Bronco 2 Starter Grinding

[Gilbee01]

Pete here's the story 2 new starters, shims , grumpy ford mechanic and me. Put in new starter when old one went out. Got a napa stater for ok price. Came with shims . Put in worked ok for 2-3 weeks . The poop. Replaced flywheel because the teeth where all mangled. Stater also mangled. Bought new starter autozone this time. Put it shims with starter. Wouldn't reach flywheel took shims out and wouldn't seat evenly and grind.. Took it to ford mechanic he just used an impact wrench to bolt the starter down and it worked for about a month. Come to find out he cracked one of the bolts inside and starter went angled again ate up flywheel and killed starter . Shop guys said that starter was aftermarket and was not going to work very well with the b2 needed to rebuild one to get the best fit. And that's the story

 

[Hawkeye58]

This Works!!

i ahve had the grinding problem too. What I have found is using a escort 1.9 starter drive. It is 10 tooth compared to 9 tooth on our starters. My starters grinded. The larger drive is like 10 thousands bigger. It has worked on all my trucks. Hope this helps!!

Rusty this is pure genious!
I have the very same issues as everyone in this thread. I go through starter
after starter without any success. Grinding and slipping. it destroyed my flywheel. I got new flywheel, Starter, and bendix gear from Escort 1.9L.
After install of the new flywheel and starter... I tried it and IT was GRINDING!!
Very disapointed and and depressed. So I pull the starter and tore it apart and install the 10 tooth bendix gear. reinstall the starter and gave it a try.
BINGO!! Absolute perfection Folks!

Rusty I want to give out a HUGE thanks for posting your solution to this issue.
If I didn't have your info Id be going after a different bell housing or worse a different trans. all together, and to think I just had the trans rebuilt a couple months ago. Whoo Hoo! total relief having this done.

Hawkeye

 

[PetesPonies]

How long has it been working with a 10 tooth Bendix drive?

 

[BabyBronco89]

I had the same problem with the starter on my 89 b2, it had been grinding for a couple yrs, sometimes it would take 10 turns of the key to engage properly, when I rebuilt my 2.9l I replaced the ring gear and installed the 10 tooth bendix gear for the escort, as I recall I still had problems, so I went to the JY and pulled a starter out of a B2 and slapped it on with the standards gear and bingo it worked!!

If you look at the two started I believe there was a slight difference with the nose casting, I believe the bronco one was ground down a bit and that allowed the clearance so it could seat properly, the reman they sold me was bottoming out on the transmission jousting and causing it to be offset just slightly enough for it to be outta alignment and grind,

When I did my 4.0 swap I used the auto explorer starter and never had a problem with the 4.0 flywheel
that 10 tooth bendix drive is still sitting in the toolbox

Good luck!!

 

[wildbill23c]

Ok, my starter grinding and not starting problem is back. I have a through bolt in the bottom and both bolts are cranked down tight as can be, and they still are tight. However its grinding so bad that it sometimes won't catch the flywheel and start.

At this point I'm wondering if it could just possibly need shims put in it to get it aligned correctly. Am I thinking through this correctly or is there something else I should be checking?

The only starters I can get are the remanufactured ones. Should I possibly see about going to a JY and pulling one out of a B2? The parts store claims all the starters are the exact same but there must be some difference because I never had a starter issue in my 84 Ranger.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

If the drive isn't engaging the ring gear spacering it out will not help your cause.

To me it sounds like the drive is shot and/or you have a bad spot on the ring gear if the whole thing isn't bad (it will be if you keep griding the starter on it)

As for a JY starter... you already have a used starter.

 

[wildbill23c]

I'm questioning whether there is a different starter that I should be using since I have a manual transmission. There have been other posts suggesting that the starters for automatic transmissions have a different nose cone allowing the starter gear to reach out farther.

From what I can see the starter gear is only contacting the flywheel maybe by 1/8" so its of course grinding away the starter gears. So shims certainly won't fix that as shims move the starter away from the flywheel farther. This has been a constant problem, and if I loosen the starter and move it, then tighten it back up its find for a few days. Trying to figure out what would be causing that issue really, and there has to be a different starter somewhere for the manual transmission because the one's I have been getting certainly are not correct. The flywheel and everything else was just out of it a couple weeks ago for the rear main seal, flywheel and clutch all look great, flywheel has no damage and no missing teeth, so the starter is just not getting to the flywheel close enough, or something else is going on here.

 

[Ryan_D85]

I have been fighting the same issue for almost a year now decided to pull the tranny and put in a new flywheel, clutch, throwout bering, pilot bearing, and pressure plate. When I got in there I found that previous owner and forgot the pilot bearing and lost the alingment pins out of the transmission. I put it all back together with new pilot bearing and alingment pins and now the same starer that grinded before makes no noise at all. Hope this helps.

 

[wildbill23c]

This thing has been torn apart 3 times now, and nothing is missing so I'm at a loss, next up is the scrap yard, I'm sick and tired of throwing money at something that can't start on its own power more often than not. I got it to drive not sit in the drive way broke down all the time.

I swear in another thread on this forum I saw my B2 behind a Ranger on a trail with a massive lift kit and tires on it, this may explain part of my B2's issues complete abuse by the previous owner(s).

I've had 3 different starters in this thing and all 3 have done the exact same thing, will be fine for a few days then will somehow slide out of position and start grinding. I had a through bolt put in the bottom of the starter, maybe I'll have the same thing done on top, and possibly put a sheave in it to keep it locked in position. Its either that or the next trip to the JY its staying there.

 

[BabyBronco89]

Get a starter out of a auto trans 4.0 explorer or ranger you'll have to grab the starter harness as their is an additional wire, maybe someone else can elaborate on the wiring more but I gaurentee it will fix the problem, I almost took my old b2 to the junkyard for the very same reason, replaced 5 plus starters

Finally came to the conclusion the ring gear was fubar, took it apart and it was a little worn, but not bad, slapped a new gear on and a new starter and immediate grind, did 4.0 swap used original 2.9 flywheel and ring gear and 4.0 auto starter and haven't had a problem since!!!!
Plus the starter is lighter and stronger, and will run on less battery juice

Good luck!! And post back your results!!!


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[wildbill23c]

Get a starter out of a auto trans 4.0 explorer or ranger you'll have to grab the starter harness as their is an additional wire, maybe someone else can elaborate on the wiring more but I gaurentee it will fix the problem, I almost took my old b2 to the junkyard for the very same reason, replaced 5 plus starters

Finally came to the conclusion the ring gear was fubar, took it apart and it was a little worn, but not bad, slapped a new gear on and a new starter and immediate grind, did 4.0 swap used original 2.9 flywheel and ring gear and 4.0 auto starter and haven't had a problem since!!!!
Plus the starter is lighter and stronger, and will run on less battery juice

Good luck!! And post back your results!!!


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Hmm, so a 4.0 starter will work on a 2.8L? Didn't know that, I may try that as well, as I'm tired of spending $46 on starters for no reason. After doing the starter removal and install so many time's I've got it down to about a 7 minute job now though LOL.

Really wish I was rich enough to do a different engine swap but that would cost more than I make in a year or pretty close.

The starters seem to after a couple days slide downward so the starter is too far away from the flywheel or something, I'm not really figuring what's happening all I know is I'm getting tired of push starting the damn thing, luckily these things weigh about nothing so they're easy to get rolling enough to jump in and drop into gear and let out the clutch. Glad I have a manual transmission at this point LOL.

 

[BabyBronco89]

Yes the only thing you will have to change is the wiring if you go to the junkyard take a starter from a auto explorer then take the red power wires there's a big and a little one pull those out and disconnect them from the solenoid on the firewall take a picture so you can hook them back up right


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[BabyBronco89]

And the 4.0 swap isn't very bad at all I've done 2 now for under 500$ actually around 3-400$


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[wildbill23c]

Thanks, I'll try the 4.0 starter, the flywheel looks really good, almost new along with the clutch. Only thing I can think of is these starters are garbage from the beginning. Will try and hit up the JY Sunday as its my only day off.

 

[storey618]

im late to respond but this was what was happening to me. block plate, or bellhousing