What's The Deal With The Mopar Mini Starters?

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Your typical RAM starter.....any different? Kicked over a 9.5 451/727 like it was a desk fan. 4.7 were different iirc.
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@RustyRatRod I ran into a situation recently with a mini starter that wouldn't allways engage, I made a hemi to 727 adapter on my mill, and figured I screwed up the spacing, but I took it to my local alternator/starter rebuilder, he said there are a few different drives for those, and sometimes the mass rebuilders use the wrong one. I machined a simple spacer to allow more bendix travel, works great now. Just some random trivia on the subject...
 
replicaracer43 said:
@RustyRatRod I ran into a situation recently with a mini starter that wouldn't allways engage, I made a hemi to 727 adapter on my mill, and figured I screwed up the spacing, but I took it to my local alternator/starter rebuilder, he said there are a few different drives for those, and sometimes the mass rebuilders use the wrong one. I machined a simple spacer to allow more bendix travel, works great now. Just some random trivia on the subject...
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Interesting. All of them I've found so far look just like the one I have and Matt had. No way will they engage anything where the old big starter was. They have two strikes. The nub on the end of the gear and the fact they don't travel all the way to the end of the snout. No way that's engaging.
 
RustyRatRod said:
Interesting. All of them I've found so far look just like the one I have and Matt had. No way will they engage anything where the old big starter was. They have two strikes. The nub on the end of the gear and the fact they don't travel all the way to the end of the snout. No way that's engaging.
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That's the type I have, like the picture above. It would just BARELY get to the ring gear...definitely interesting.
 
I have one on my 4-speed. It sounds like there are different models of the Dakota starter, if you have one go bad, make sure that your replacement is the same. If your starting fresh, good luck. Maybe this should be a sticky over in Electrical with pictures.
 
simple: Measure ring gear edge to mounting flange. Compare to these fugures---- retracted gear is 7/8 (22mm) past flange (your ring gear should sit deeper than this off the block but not much) . Fully extended gear is 1 3/8 (34mm) past flange for a drive width of ~1/2 inch (18mm). Your ring gear should be somewhere in the >7/8 (22mm) range for the starter gear to engage.
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This is assuming the starter actually bottoms out in the receiver and the flange is sitting on the trans flange. This particular starter has been used and I notices that the inside tooth edge has a wear mark on it, or actually overshooting the ring gear? Never made any strange noises and always engaged. The 66-69 Hemi 4-speed direct drive starter was different for some reason, probably the manifolds. notice no nub on end.
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pishta said:
simple: Measure ring gear edge to mounting flange. Compare to these fugures---- retracted gear is 7/8 (22mm) past flange (your ring gear should sit deeper than this off the block but not much) . Fully extended gear is 1 3/8 (34mm) past flange for a drive width of ~1/2 inch (18mm). Your ring gear should be somewhere in the >7/8 (22mm) range for the starter gear to engage. This is assuming the starter actually bottoms out in the receiver and the flange is sitting on the trans flange. This particular starter has been used and I notices that the inside tooth edge has a wear mark on it, or actually overshooting the ring gear? Never made any strange noises and always engaged. The 66-69 Hemi 4-speed direct drive starter was different for some reason, probably the manifolds. notice no nub on end.
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That's well and good and all that, but without those figures, how do you get the right one over the counter?
 
That starter has a smaller motor (shorter 1400 W) as these come in at least 2 kW ratings. I think the one I have is a 1700 watt as it has a longer motor.
 
When we put new heads, carb and headers on my son's 1984 W150, the stock starter wouldn't fit the headers. I put a 1992 V6 Dakota starter on it. It fit perfectly, and still starts everytime. Engine is a 318 factory 4V. Bolted right in with no modifications.
 
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