Starter eaten

[DobbM]

👋 I just had my starter motor rebuilt. Ran it daily for about three weeks and today -- a nasty sound while cranking it. I look below and I see these three bits laying on the garage floor. I remove the starter, and yup. Problem identified.
My question: how did these three shard end up on the floor? The starter was fully attached. Is there a natural way that they could have got thrown free? Or should I worry more? Thanks.

  

[Bob Preston]

Gravity. 

[ronmanfredi]

If your car is like my 63 with an auto trans, the bell housing isn't completely sealed at the bottom and those pieces could drop through the gaps to the floor.

[mfg]

Probably through the 1” (?) hole provided to drain converter…. But more importantly ‘Why did this happen’?

[DobbM]

Why is a great question. Inferior metal? Bad batch?

[DobbM]

It happened again. Same exact issue. Car ran fine for 3 weeks, then, bam. The engine turns over just fine. Doesn't sound labored or anything. I'd question my own installation, but it doesn't seem too difficult, and I'd question myself if it happened on the first cranks. 

Any suggestions? Obviously I won't be going to the same shop. Ugh.

[Gunslinger]

Starters sometimes require shims to be lined up for proper engagement.  That may be the problem.

[ronmanfredi]

1 hour ago, Gunslinger said:

Starters sometimes require shims to be lined up for proper engagement.  That may be the problem.

The starter for a Stude mounts to the bellhousing, not the engine block like a GM does.  The shim is used to space the starter away from the block to adjust the bendix gear to flywheel clearance on the GM starter.  One could put washers between the starter and the transmission engine plate but all that would do is pull the starter out of the bell housing, which wouldn't make any difference.  His problem is with a bad bendix gear (old and cheap new), a now common problem to the point that Jon Meyer has written articles about this.

[mfg]

Not exactly related, but I agree with the questionable quality of new production starter bendix assemblies….

I recently went to the trouble of replacing the starter bendix assy on a ‘49 Stude Champion, and ended up having to do the job twice! ……Although the starter would spin properly, the new bendix would not ‘throw out’ into the flywheel teeth… The starter would just spin…. The second bendix replacement seems to be working OK.