OK, so a "search" revealed several posts/threads on tricks to get the starter back IN. How about getting the @#^$%!! thing OUT? Sheesh, my son is flying up this weekend to take his 1961 Galaxie out of storage and drive it from RI to NC. Well, I took it out of storage and when I was showing it to a mechanic friend of mine he casually mentioned "sounds like your bendix is going out." I figured I'd fix that for my son. How hard can it be? I've changed dozens of starters in my life, oughta take about 20 minutes. Weil.... I've exhausted my knowledge of swear words and the starter is still dangling. It seems to me that the bendix is fully out and the starter body is hitting the cross member and there isn't enough room. I see in some of the old posts that Ted suggested turning the wheels all the way to one side. So, I'll try that in the morning and I'll jack up the other side of the car too to let the suspension/wheels hang. Any other tips? I read one post where somebody changed the bendix while it was still in the car but I didn't understand how to do that. I've got to get this back together by Sunday. Hopefully.



Thanks.



Seth

Seth,

I've done one a few time on my Australian 56 Mainline. In Australia we have the steering box,  clutch and gearbox linkages in that same space.  I remember removing the entire clutch mechanism undoing one of the engine mounts and jacking the engine for space. I think it took 6-8 hours just to remove and reinstall.

The bendix is at the end of the shaft so it needs to come around the flywheel. Stick with it.

The first removal was because the bendix failed and was in permeant engagement with the flywheel. Luckily  we were visiting my inlaws, still three hours drive home but I had a place with tools to fix it.

Cheers

Warren 

Grizzly (Aussie Mainline)