51 A starter help

So I put a "good used" starter on my A a few summers ago and it worked about half the summer (by that it probably started the tractor 10-20 times, its a puller) then it started grinding the tops of the teeth off the ring gear to the point where it wouldn't start it anymore, just skip past. So I finally replaced the ring gear, got the flywheel installed last night. Before I tried to start the tractor I unhooked the batteries and manually engaged the bendix so i could roll it around by hand and check the mesh. It was horrible. barely getting any gear mesh at all. So I pulled the starter out everything looked ok. the starter gear didn't show excessive wear. Well, put it this way, each tooth would have had to been worn 1/4" to get the mesh I was seeing. So long story short, I put a washer on the top starter bolt to tilt the starter towards the ring gear. Have much better mesh now. Put the plugs back in and it fired right up several times.

I have two questions:

Is something else worn or broken that I am not seeing that would cause the poor gear mesh?

Is the spacer washer going to cause any problems in the long run?
 
Remove the starter and run it to see if drive is
moving all the way out. Possibly fork is worn.
Did you install the ring gear backwards?
 
Maybe you do not have the correct starter or the starter drive in that one is not correct for your model tractor. I'd pull the starter drive out and compare it to some others.
 
I was under the assumption that the A, 60, 620, and 630 would interchange, but I could be wrong.

other than one of those I didn't think that any other model would even fit in the location.

Guess what i am saying is that it is possible that I have have the wrong starter and can anyone clarify the interchangeability of the starters among 2 cyl models?
 
I'd think the A,60,620 would work. A 630 has a electric solenoid. But that does not mean that at some point in it's life it got the wrong drive put into it. That's all I could think would explain the teeth not meshing into the ring gear deep enough. I'd be surprised if it could wear that much ? Other way could be if the crankshaft and bearings were not in alignment some how ? Or you have the wrong flywheel ? but I don't think they could be that close it would be WAY off.
 
Bushings could be worn out in the starter too ? but if that far gone I would not think it could turn without the armature dragging the field coils.
 
yeah the bushings don't feel too bad.. A little loose but nothing that I would consider horrible.

What do you think of my current fix? It is working fine as is, do you see any future problems that would come up? only thing I can think of is that the cast flange of the starter is not sitting tight against the mounting surface so it might try to flex the starter some.. and i know cast doesn't do flexing well.. actually at all.
 
I don't like that idea much, you don't have full or square engagement and they are only catching by 1/16 of an inch would be my guess. I suspect some rebuilder in the past has put the wrong bendix drive on it and you really need one with one more tooth and a bigger base circle if I can borrow a camshaft term. To confirm it you should count the teeth on another starter.
 
(quoted from post at 08:20:08 06/10/16) I was under the assumption that the A, 60, 620, and 630 would interchange, but I could be wrong.

other than one of those I didn't think that any other model would even fit in the location.

Guess what i am saying is that it is possible that I have have the wrong starter and can anyone clarify the interchangeability of the starters among 2 cyl models?

Almost guaranteed it's the wrong starter/bendix with those symptoms. 620 and 630 are out due to different starters entirely.
John Deere A Starter Drive

I would not even order the part until I had it on the bench and found one matching number in the description above linked too, off the starter ID plate itself first. Buying parts for the wrong starter is a mistake on top of a mistake. JD wants 130 for it, 30 or better anyplace else.
 
if it is the wrong drive, how hard is it to change that out? Is that something I can do myself, or do i need to take it to a starter repair shop?
 

So almost 2 years later, I am getting back to this. Sometimes life gets in the way of the toys...

I am going to pull the starter out this week and check the drive gear to make sure it is the right one.

If it is the wrong one, is this easy to change out myself? Anyone know of an instruction video.. I did some searching on youtube and couldn't find one
 

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