Starter Grind

[r.booser]

So I've been fixing up this 85 c20 I picked up. It sat for a while and the guy I got it from tried to fix things but wasn't successful. I changed the carb, heater core, dizzy, wires, plugs and hooked up electric choke. When I started it the other day the starter grinded, tried again and fired up. So I read all about the shims and decided to crawl underneath. Starter has shims and looks brand new. No mind you all the time starting it over the 2 weeks I have owned the truck it never grinded. I was told that I could just be a little bit out of time? Never heard that before so I come to you guys asking.
This happened with my 05 Yukon and it was a bad solenoid which I replaced and works fine...could that be the case here?

 

[chengny]

Take the shims out - the pinion will probably engage the ring gear just fine.

I swear, the use of shims creates more starter engagement problems than they ever solve. They are rarely needed, but somewhere along the line it became Gospel that you need them.

At least try it, it's easy enough to pull them out. Doing so certainly won't make things worse, and may well solve your problem.

 

[shortboxchevy77]

So I've been fixing up this 85 c20 I picked up. It sat for a while and the guy I got it from tried to fix things but wasn't successful. I changed the carb, heater core, dizzy, wires, plugs and hooked up electric choke. When I started it the other day the starter grinded, tried again and fired up. So I read all about the shims and decided to crawl underneath. Starter has shims and looks brand new. No mind you all the time starting it over the 2 weeks I have owned the truck it never grinded. I was told that I could just be a little bit out of time? Never heard that before so I come to you guys asking.
This happened with my 05 Yukon and it was a bad solenoid which I replaced and works fine...could that be the case here?

No such thing as "out of time" with that. Usually a starter grind is caused by a failing solenoid, just because its new doesn't mean its any good, parts these days just seem to be getting shittier and shittier. If it is shimmed I would advise that you check your gear to gear meshing to make sure it isn't set up too tight.

To check the starter to ring gear mesh you will first unhook the battery (This is extremely important because the starter can engage when the starter gear is manually pulled out!!)

Pull off your inspection cover for the ring gear and with the starter still bolted up use a pick (a small 90 degree usually works) to reach in and physically pull the starter gear out to the ring gear to see how much clearance the gears have. A small amount of gap is better than being too tightly meshed.

Also check to make sure that the nose of the starter gear hasn't for some reason been ground completely flat, the end of the gear must be slightly rounded off to ensure proper engagement with the ring gear.

 

[r.booser]

it seems the starter wasn't tightened down very tight. When I did so the starter didn't want to disengage. So tonight I will try to take the shims completely out and see if that solves the issue.

 

[da_raabi]

I have a similar issue, and it only happens once in a while. I'm thinking its just a couple of worn teeth on the ring gear. Have you checked for that?

 

[r.booser]

Ya the teeth look good. It almost seems my starter wasn't going out far enough. At times when adjusting the bolts you could tell it was just hitting the plate. I wonder if to many shims where thrown in

 

[r.booser]

it was the starter itself. It worked correctly but the bearings inside were shot so the teeth shaft was coming out at an angle. Problem fixed!

 

[foamypirate]

Cool, glad you figured it out! Thanks for sharing the answer with us too, always nice!