TR2/3/3A TR3 starter removal

simple question here, do you take the starter out from above the car or below the car?

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I take it out from above... as I recall I have to undo the choke linkage connecting the jets on the carbs... maybe the choke cable too. Might also need to remove the rear air cleaner. It's a tight fit. This is on a pre-50000 TR with a stock header.

For the top bolt I can just get a box wrench between the gearbox cover and the firewall to go on there... then I run a bungee from the end of the wrench to the stick shift to hold it in place while I undo it from the starter side. Good luck.

Yes the old starters come out easier through the top with a bunch of the carb stuff off; otherwise, you would have to pull off the exhaust.. The post 5000 starters can go out the through the bottom and will clear the exhaust. If you have the old starter with the rubber sleeve as they go out they have a tendency to chew up the ring gear. Look closely because the ring gear usually goes bad at only two points because the engine usually shuts off at either the bottom or top of 1 and 3 compression strokes. Anyway when examining the starter if it is a rubber sleeve (a 57 should be) there are usually a couple things to look for: first does the drive assembly move in both directions when it twists out? It should only move in the direction of the engine rotation otherwise it will just spin in the starter motor itself and not turn the engine over. If it does then it is shot. Second, if you have the starter rebuilt find a shop that removers the field coils because the starter not turning problem is usually brush dust on exposed field coils creating a short. What some shops do is leave the field coils in and just clean out the dust then put new brushes in, put some insulating paint on the field coils and call it good. These starters do not last much more than a year or two.

George

Pretty easy to take these starters to bits and reassemble. Most common problem is probably brushes or a failed rubber/metal drive unit. Years ago that part was NA so I 'rebuilt' mine by jamming strips of inner tube in there and pressing it back together. Bought a new drive unit when then again became available and am waiting for the day when my inner tube rubber fails. Been waiting about 20 years now.

Hi Geo I like your idea on how to fix the rubber sleeve. Perhaps you could explain the rubber strips more. Did you pull out all the old rubber or leave some in? What kind of press did you use? Did the press need much push?

Regards George

When my starter failed - the rubber got chewed up - I ordered a new one but in the meantime I MIG welded the two parts together and ran it that way for a couple of months. The day I put in the order for the new one was the day before the Twin Towers 9/11 and all shipments were delayed for a month. When the new one arrived, I put it in, but I keep the welded one in my toolbox in my trunk, just in case.

Don Elliott, Original Owner, 1958 TR3A
They have me listed here as a "newbie". I like that for an old timer.

[ QUOTE ]
Hi Geo I like your idea on how to fix the rubber sleeve. Perhaps you could explain the rubber strips more. Did you pull out all the old rubber or leave some in? What kind of press did you use? Did the press need much push?

[/ QUOTE ]

Good grief, that was more than 20 years ago... I've already forgotten what I had for breakfast this morning.

I probably left what remained of the original rubber and just used the strips to make it tighter. I had no press so the pressing together would have been done with a vise. I think I had to stretch the strips as the inner (with rubber) and outer were pressed together. That put everything in a nice squeeze... then the excess strip length was trimmed off.

But note: I only did this because at that time the sleeve assembly was NLA. Now available for about $33 and the better solution.