Grease the gear shaft and bendix on my starter? 57 301 v8

[Rusty Muffler]

Did I make a mistake by greasing the spline etc on my starter when installing new brushes? It sometimes doesn't engage, sometimes grinds, even once tried to stick on. Now that was only right after I put her back in. It may take many starts to maybe work it in? The spring and everything looked good in there but the spline was dry so I greased her up. Wrong?

 

[halifaxhops]

Believe it was lightly oiled to prevent rust

 

[Rusty Muffler]

This time I took it completely apart, cleaned with gum out then brakekleen. During assembly instead of 10w oil I used gun oil. Worked several starts but didn't engage one time. So I'll just drive it and see before looking into another starter.

 

[Rusty Muffler]

Well, after all that it still sometimes just spins but no engagement, and sometimes sounds like to wants to keep running after the engine starts. Only thing I can think of is a weak starter spring ? I'm starting to lose my hair unnaturally!!!

 

[twostick]

Gun oil is pretty light I think for that application and would dissipate quickly.

I would use a thin coating of Lubriplate/white grease on all the moving parts except the pinion/ring gear. It's light enough that the cold shouldn't affect it too much but thick enough to stay put and not run off/dry out.

I'm assuming the armature bushings aren't worn out/not lubed and it spins up and turns with authority.

Also, make sure the solenoid plunger moves freely/doesn't hang up in its travel. If the lever is engaging the drive fully and all the ring gear teeth are intact, the bendix itself is probably the culprit.

Kevin