1986 Suburban starter issues

Hey there everybody. I bought myself a 1986 Suburban for cheap, and it has its quirks, but its nice and solid. My problem is the starter will sometimes not engage the flywheel (now the starter is spinning, but not turning the engine, and it makes a bad screeching sound). This is a problem because I am afraid to drive it anywhere now in fear of not being able to get it restarted. Now it doesn't do this all the time, but when it does do this, I have to try a few more times to crank it, or I have to crawl under and turn the engine by hand just a few inches, then it will engage again when I crank. Now does this sound like the starter gear is bad? Possibly unable to turn the when it shuts off at a "bad spot" or worn spot? The flywheel looks fine and all teeth are intact without major wear. It seems to do this when the engine starts before the starter is disengaged (kind of hard to disengage the starter on a choke-less carbed engine in the cold). I'm thinking that I might be able to buy a new starter drive at the parts store and put it in. What do you all think? '86 Suburban, 4X4, Half-ton, has a 400 small block installed from a '77 Chevy. Thanks!

UPDATE: I have found the old starter for the truck (the one that was mounted to its original 350) in a pile in the back, all dissasembled with a broken nose cone. The starter on the truck seems to be a recently purchased re-man starter. The old starter drive is in the pile of old starter parts. Could the new starter have a gear size that does not match the flywheel? Or maybe the reman starter has a bad quality drive/gear?

Yes, it could be the gear on the starter. When I replaced the starter on my '88 Sub there were shims and one had to measure and determine how many to use.

Hopefully it's not worn flywheel teeth.

finding a starter with the correct fit is a problem..with the solenoid engaged there must be 1/8inch space between the teeth of flywheel/starter.

shims are used to do this. in your case it sounds like too much clearence.


since it is common for this to occur I have searched and found USA INDUSTRIES as the best starter supplier with none of these shiming issues SO FAR !

rotate the flywheel and use file to touch up the teeth..use chalk on flywheel so you know for sure is 100% inspected...

Got the truck to start up today without too many issues. Put it up on blocks and crawled under. The flywheel teeth looks like they have been grinded in certain areas. And I don't mean the height-th of the tooth. It has about a centimeter or two ground off on the side of the flywheel facing the engine. It doesn't look like to me it is enough to keep the engine from starting, as long as the clearances are what they should be. What could be causing it to grind like that? The spots look "fresh". Maybe I am holding the starter too long after the engine starts causing it to grind? Haven't got a good look at the starter gear itself yet. Will need to pull the starter out to do that. Have been driving it around today with no problems. Once its warmed up it will start right back up with the flick of the key. Maybe I was holding the starter too long figuring it wouldn't start before.....

Got the truck to start up today without too many issues. Put it up on blocks and crawled under. The flywheel teeth looks like they have been grinded in certain areas. And I don't mean the height-th of the tooth. It has about a centimeter or two ground off on the side of the flywheel facing the engine. It doesn't look like to me it is enough to keep the engine from starting, as long as the clearances are what they should be. What could be causing it to grind like that? The spots look "fresh". Maybe I am holding the starter too long after the engine starts causing it to grind? Haven't got a good look at the starter gear itself yet. Will need to pull the starter out to do that. Have been driving it around today with no problems. Once its warmed up it will start right back up with the flick of the key. Maybe I was holding the starter too long figuring it wouldn't start before.....


you must remove the big wire from starter ,,put tape on it. then re-connect the battery...with a jumper wire put power 12v to the small solenoid wire. this will engage the starter drive gear which will then be engaged at the flywheel teeth...the starter motor cannot rotate because the armature has no power to it ..now you measure for the 1/8 inch...

as I stated before all teeth need filing if out of shape [metal bent over]

If what you're saying is that the teeth on the flywheel look good, it could be that the starter drive is bad. There is a one-way sprag in the starter drive and that may be what is slipping.

It has about a centimeter or two ground off on the side of the flywheel facing the engine......

You must mean a "millimeter or two". Two centimeters is a lot, just over than 3/4 inch.