Quick question on the starter motor...

[rumblecloud]

I've done this before so sorry if this has already been answered...
Got the infamous key onto start and...click, click.
Fender mount relay is good. Getting proper voltage to the starter motor.

So, I pulled the starter motor and applied voltage. Starter solenoid works, gear extends, but...it doesn't spin.

Is that a thing? What does that mean? Replace the starter motor?

Thanks for your advice.

 

[Curious Hound]

Replace starter motor.

there is a solenoid on the side of the starter that extends the bendix gear and closes a set of contacts to power the motor. Either those contacts are not closing or there Is something wrong inside the motor, such as bad brushes.

years ago, we would maybe replace the solenoid in the side of the starter motor or even disassemble and clean the contacts or replace motor brushes. These days, just replace the whole mess and let someone else rebuild it. You could try putting 12 volts to the motor itself instead of on the solenoid terminal and see if the motor will run that way. But the outcome will be the same. Replace the whole thing.

 

[RonD]

+1 ^^^

But the "click, click, click" doesn't make sense
One "click" yes, dead starter motor
Multiple "clicks" is low AMPs to starter motor

The starter relay on inner fender and starter solenoid might need 2amps at the most
Starter motor itself needs 40-75amps to start spinning the engine

If the starter motor, or the larger 12v cable, or larger ground cable, for the starter
OR the battery itself
Can't provide the higher AMPs then AMPs in the whole system drop to 0 momentarily so starter relay and/or starter solenoid "click" off until AMPs come back up and they "click" on again, and it repeats
"click, click, click, click............"

If there is just one "click" then starter motor is most likely dead

 

[05MountainGoat]

Did you have your battery cables connected neg then pos? Or a loose pos when hooking them up? Have had that give me a click click click from starter before.

Also it's totally worth it to rebuild the starter yourself. Took me about an hour to clean up an 1/8th of an inch of crusty oil on starter/solenoid, soak all internal components and replace brushes with low mileage 09 4.0 brushes on my 05 3.0 V6s starter motor. Reman starter motors have garbage brushes, and cost an arm and a leg. My junkyard starter was 60$ after tax, and the rebuild will take me another 300 000km. To each their own though, I'm sure there's some masochists out there who like doing the same job twice

 

[rumblecloud]

Did you have your battery installed....
Also it's totally worth it to rebuild the starter yourself....

Thanks for the pointers on the cables. The cables were installed correctly and the battery was at12.50 or something like that. Cables were good. Cheapo starter was installed a few years back. It probably could've been rebuilt.
I'm always game to rebuild an original part. I love taking shit apart to see if I can fix it, but...

Time and money usually dictate which direction I go. In this case time won. It was much easier and faster to drive to the parts store to get what I needed and install it in less than a couple of hours.

 

[mikkelstuff]

I've heard bad reviews about the Chinese DB Electrical starters.

I just bought a Powermaster U.S. built starter for my '75 Ranchero 460 cid from Summit Racing to be sure.

My bad starter, a Ford Motorcraft unit just needed a new bendix drive gear. I bought a Motorcraft drive gear off of ebucks and rebuilt it in maybe 30 minutes. Will keep it as a backup spare.