starter question

Well, Larry's starter showed up, so I took it apart and since I like taking things apart, I also took apart a cheap Chinese starter for comparison purposes

The Chinese starter was sold as an automotive starter, Larry's was the original equipment starter in his SN176

Now it's time to look at the pictures and find the one extra part in the Marine starter. It's kinda like playing "Where's Waldo" 

It should be pretty easy to spot that little Brownish Orange seal/plug.

That's the only difference in the two starters as far as spark protection goes. It plugs a space at the bottom of the starter where fumes could get in and mix with a spark and make bad things happen.

The upper plug is black on the Ford and white on this particular Chinese starter.

There are some other differences like paint, Larry's has a black epoxy paint ( a pretty sloppy one) on the housing, the Chinese looks to be a pretty corrosion resistant non painted housing.

Larry's has tinned wire from the brush holder to the solenoid, the Chinese has untinned copper

I've had Arco starters apart, they have the same plug as the Ford, just a different color.

I've also had marine starters from other outfits apart (both new and rebuilt) that either has nothing at all where that plug goes or an application of RTV in that space but they were sold as "marine starters"

That little 10 cent or so piece of nylon sure adds a lot to the price of a "marine" starter

Larry's starter was full of rust, dirt and carbon dust all mixed together, not because he got it wet a little while ago, but from 20 plus years of use.

Also there was not a hint of lubrication on the nose cone bushing or the cover bushing on the brush end or any of the planetary gears. 20 plus years wiped all that out

Since I like to put things back together too, I fluffed and buffed Larry's starter, then put it back together with some grease in all the right places.

And then, since I like to see if things work again, I did a bench test and it worked good with no load on the bench..

But since I like to see if it works on an engine too, I slapped it on the old plow truck and it worked like it should. 

It'll probably be Monday before I get it shipped out and on it's way back to you Larry.

Now you have a good spare "just in case"

And just a reminder, this post only pertains to  Ford PMGR starters

That CCW CW notation they use always confuses me.  Gary and Tim, your guidance helped.  Tim,  Where did you find $120.  I didnt see anything quite that low, I think I found in the vicinity of 160-190, but at that point wasnt sure which one I needed.  I concur that at those prices, new makes more sense than rebuild.

Now getting it off.  Heaven forbid all boats be like my Tique with the top mounted starter.  I tried getting this one off a while back to inspect it and it didnt go smoothly.  Full confession, Im not sure if this starter got wet or not. In a bad storm a while back, water got up to the floorboards.  Would that have submerged the starter.  Thats when I tried to take it off, inspect and dry out if needed, but I could never get it off.  Could that have led to this current condition?  It was a couple months ago and this noise just started a few weeks ago.