What causes the teeth on my HD starter to break?

On mine it was because I have a big inch motor. On some it can be because the pinion gear does not engage the gear on the clutch basket well.





This can be caused by the spring behind the pinion gear being weak or by worn teeth.





Compufire makes a starter gear set, with a slightly different ratio, with both the basket and pinion gears that works great ,the basket gear is installed on your clutch basket rather than replacing the whole shell.





I ate up a few sets of stock gears before, but the compufire has held up for years.





J+P has that gear set and replace the spring behind the pinion.

What causes the teeth on my HD starter to break?
Are you talking about the teeth on the starter drive gear? Could be the gear was not hardened properly. Has this happened more than once? If not just replace the gear and it should work fine. Also, check the teeth on the gear ring that the drive gear engages. They may be screwed up also.
Reply:Try using shims. The gears are probably bottoming out.
Reply:is it the teeth on the gear that engage's the ring gear on the clutch basket or the little teeth on the shaft that gos back into the starter like on a high torque gear reduction starter?


you need to shim to get full engagement without the 1 way sprague touching the ring gear. on an early model with the solenoid facing forward you may have a bent yoke.


if you've got a 100'' with high compression you need compression release's. if not move the starter drive by hand (disconnect the battery wire first)to see how much engagement you are getting %26amp; shim accordingly before you put the primary cover back on. %26amp; dont forget to check the teeth on your ring gear, you may need a new one.
Reply:starter is missaligned



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