Briggs starter

[Keith R]

The starter on the Viking GT I purchased last broke a couple of weeks ago, the gear on the starter broke in half. I decided to order a new starter rather than replace the front end. New starter arrived and I installed it, the third time I started the tractor, after installing it the same thing happened to the new starter, broke the gear into 3 pieces. It was the correct starter for the motor, 16 tooth gear for an aluminum ring gear, I have a replacement starter coming, but will be reluctant to install it till I find the cause of breakage. Any suggestions as to what I should look for.

 

[Propane1]

Wrong ring gear on engine ? Or need shims where starter bolts on to keep the starter gear from bottoming out in the ring gear. ?

Noel

 

[olcowhand]

Never had that happen in all my years, but hear of it a lot. Was the new starter OE or aftermarket?

 

[Cvans]

Stripped a few of those gears but never broke one. It sounds like the engine is locked up.

 

[Lance Skene]

check for a small stone or piece of debris stuck between a couple teeth on the ring gear...and/or broken teeth.

 

[larrybl]

I have striped and broken them. I keep a stock of the nylon gears on hand. They are cheep, and available at O'reillys.

 

[dodge trucker]

All the local hardware stores and farm stores used to Carry those starter gears. Oem Briggs, not over a few bucks.

 

[Keith R]

The starter was new, not remanufactured, teeth matched up perfectly to ring gear. I checked the ring gear for missing teeth or debris ,none to be found. I have starter OEM Briggs gears coming from Amazon, I have two old starters that have worn gears, will put new ones on those. The engine is not locked up, it also has a pull start and I start it that way now. I think I will try what Noel suggested, put some shims under mounting brackets.
Thanks fort the input, I will report back after I get starter installed, may be a week or so before it gets here.

Keith

 

[Keith R]

Update on starter problems. First off a history of what I am working with. I bought an early 70's Viking garden tractor last December, MTD 990 Hydrostatic, the original 16HP single cylinder was replaced by previous owner with a Briggs 16 HP V Twin OHV. The battery wouldn't hold a charge so most of the time I used the pull cord, usually started on first pull. Only used the started several times before it gave up. Late May I removed the starter to find the started drive gear in two pieces, ordered new starter and bought a new battery. As stated in the original post, installed both items and on third time starting with starter the starter drive gear broke again.
New starter arrived a couple days ago, today I installed it but never tried it, the drive gear looked too close to ring gear, they were almost touching. I removed the spark plugs and rotated the engine buy hand and found that every so often the ring gear would catch the starter gear and bring the gear out fully engaged. I think this is the problem, even though the starter |I ordered is suppose to fit this engine, according to list of part # it is compatible to.

 

[Cvans]

Are you planning on shimming the starter out or what?

 

[KennyP]

Sounds like the ring gear is the culprit here, not the starter.

 

[Keith R]

Not sure what I am going to do yet, I will have another look at it to see if there s something I missed.

 

[KennyP]

If that ring gear is grabbing the starter gear whrn you rotate by hand, something ain't right.

 

[Keith R]

If that ring gear is grabbing the starter gear when you rotate by hand, something ain't right.

I will get the tractor into the shop and give it a good going over, I will check the ring gear to see if it is bent or warped. Hope to get at it this weekend.

 

[chieffan]

Ring gear should be solid to the flywheel. Might check the flywheel that it is solid on the crank shaft.

 

[Keith R]

Late update on the starter issue.
The newly installed starter is working perfectly, I think my problem was two fold. When the original starter failed, I replaced it with a new one that failed after a few times. I think the reason for that was; I didn't get all the pieces of the nylon gear removed and it caught on the new one causing it to break. The spare I put on and rotated the ring gear by hand and found it made contact with nylon gear was caused by a weak return spring and dirty shaft.