Damaged Flywheel Teeth on 3L

[Brent Castle]

The flywheel teeth on my 3L are fairly damaged where the Bendix engages. So much so that I often have to bump the flywheel around so that I can get reasonable engagement to start.



The Technical Notes suggests rotating the flywheel with respect to the crankshaft flange 45 degrees so that the starter tends to engage with a different set of teeth on the starter ring. This sounded like an easier and cheaper fix than a new starter ring. However, the bolt heads (a countersunk flathead) are not easily accessed for removal.



Is the starter ring too damaged to merit saving and simply rotating? If not, does anyone have any experience rotating the flywheel as described in the Technical Notes. Any suggestions? Lastly, it doesn't look like the bendix is getting good engagement. Is there a recommended fix to get better engagement?

Any and all advice is much appreciated.

[Chris Card]

I can't advise you with regard to rotating the starter ring, but, in the photo, your Bendix looks to be heavily oiled. I believe that it should have the very minimum of lubrication, allowing the dog to engage/disengage without being slowed down by "treakly" oil and associater road grit.
If you clean off most of the oil, you MAY get better engagement. I assume that your Bendix dog has the correct number of teath. I'm in Namibia at the moment, so can't check that out for you.

I'm sure that someone on the Forum will have dealt with the same problem at some time and will be able to advise.

Chris

[Iain Warner]

If the crankshaft and flywheel have been balanced as a unit then moving the flywheel round to an unworn set of teeth will probably put the rotating elements out of balance.
If you are stripping the engine anyway then you could do it, although in the past I bought a new ring gear from the vintage spares scheme and had this shrunk onto the flywheel after the old teeth had been machined off.

Another thought, have you checked the position of the starter motor in its housing. If I remember correctly the flat on the motor where the taper pin locks it in position allows for a bit of fore and aft adjustment.
Iain

[Brent Castle]

Thanks for the replies and sorry for my slow reply. I went ahead and purchased a new gear and will hopefully be putting it on in the coming weeks.