Starter Drive

[Baretone]

HI Gang,
I put a"new" style bendix on my "52 side mount 12V
8N about 2-1/2 months ago, went out to crank her up
yesterday and the @@#!%&&* India import piece of junk blew up!! Pulled the starter and the gears on the starter drive are GONE guess they"re down in the hidy-hole acting as ballast. I guess what I need to know is, is there some way to know what is a good starter drive, is a more expensive drive necessarily a higher quality one? haven"t had the nerve to check out my ring-gear yet, guess I"ll have another cup of coffee and think about it.
Baretone

 

[Bruce (VA)]

Well, a 12v conversion isn't going to do much for a bendix designed for the torque produced by a 6v starter, but 2 1/2 months is ridiculous.

Ever since the first bendix went out on my of my N's, I've installed the new positive drive models. AFAIK, three of the for have the PD bendix. It works like this......the bendix engages the ring gear on the flywheel & turns the engine over. When the engine speed exceeds the design speed of the bendix (because the engine is running) it disengages. (and I can never remember what RPM that is) All the new style bendix does is allow a higher engine speed before it disengages.

This is a great concept. But here is the problem: according to the local rebuild shop, the life expectancy on the PD bendix is not that good. I found that out when my 7 year old PD bendix went out on my least used N. I took it to the shop for them to check out the starter while I had it off & to get a new PD bendix. They all had a good time giving me grief about using the PD bendix instead of the OEM bendix (owning 4 N's, I'm on a first name basis w/ them!).

The good news is that they still have a source for the OEM bendixs. One place is left in the country.

So, I'm back to an OEM bendix on one N & probably will be replacing the others as they crap out in the next year or two.

BTW, don't worry about bendix parts in the bell housing.

These guys do 'mail order' work; give them a call to get a quote & shipping info.

And, they also do carbs, starters, generators, water pumps, clutches, etc.



Automotive Manufacturers Incorporated
2400 N Lombardy St
Richmond, VA 23220
(804) 321-6861
50 Tips

 

[Baretone]

Thanks for the heads up Bruce,I'll make contact
with these folks ASAP
Baretone

 

[Anonymous-0]

I would make sure to at least speak with whoever sold it and express my discontent with the product they sell. It does not always do any good, however at least you get it off your chest, and some actually will refund your money. I had a overrunning clutch come apart on the second use (Inda as well), and I took the pieces in for a replacement. Bad thing was that I was not happy with a pto shaft coming loose on my cutter at speed and load. I was able to recover most of it to return, but parts exited the machine and went under the bush hog while still rotating. Thankfully none of it came my way and made a bad day worse.