Rebuilt starter on 289 question

[McDermittMarvel]

I am working and having work done on my '60 Hawk and had the starter rebuilt. The starter gear is in the out position. The mechanic doing the work says, "take it back as he must have put it together wrong, the gear needs to be back." I took it back to the rebuilder who smiled and said nope, that it was rebuilt correctly and this starter has a centrifical lock when installed it spins and moves to the back. Any comments, tips, suggestions for me? Was there something different about these starters or are their any tips about re-installation with the gear forward or do we have to spin it somehow when it is out of the housing? Thanks in advance, I am no mechanic and a very inexperienced wrench turner.

[N8N]

mechanic is wrong, rebuilder is right. The gear will stay out until it is spun back by the flywheel "driving" the starter after the engine starts. If the starter is spun up off the car, as it would be for bench testing after a rebuild, the gear will be thrown out and it will stay there. It'll go back as soon as the car starts... hopefully (if not, you'll certainly hear it!)

Technically, this is a "Folo-Thru" starter drive, even though many people refer to it as a "Bendix."

nate

[McDermittMarvel]

Thanks Nate. I was pretty sure the rebuilder was based on the big smile! I was just wondering if they were going to run into any problems on the reinstall with it out as they showed concern.

[N8N]

Shouldn't have any issues; the gear will just engage in the flywheel when it is installed. Make sure that they have the original bolts. Other than that you should be good to go.

nate

[31Streetrod]

If you have a good and I stress the "good" 6 in. bench grinder with a wire wheel, hold the body of the starter in left hand with bendix (starter gear) housing in right hand with gear teeth facing wire wheel and with a solid hard push of the gear into the spinning wire wheel the bendix (starter gear) will rotate back into park position. Sounds like the rebuilder doesn't have a bench grinder or he's on the young side and has never seen this old trick.

[McDermittMarvel]

Thanks for all the help Studebaker folks!