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Starter Recommendation

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71tr

71tr

Jedi Warrior
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In the midst of a frame-off restore and just pulled the original Lucas starter. It worked fine before the restore and all gears/teeth appear to be in good condition. I'm contemplating replacing this unit with a new gear-reduction starter when everything is put back together. Any comments or experiences with these newer starters?
 
I put one in my TR3, and have been pretty happy with it. It occasionally doesn't engage the flywheel, but the next bump on the starter always works. The one plus I noticed is that the car turns over faster and fires quicker with the new starter.

Mickey
 
I installed a gear reduction starter on my TR4 about a year ago - single best improvement I've made to the car!
 
They work good. Big improvement over the giant Lucas starter labouring to crank the tractor engine over.

Bill
 
My Lucas starter is on its last leg (it looked like it had been rebuilt, but obviously not very well.) It doesn't have enough oomph to turn the stinker over, so I've also bee contemplating the gear reduction unit. Heck, a major benefit just seems to be about 10 pounds less weight. The Lucas starter weighs almost as much as Kirstie Alley!
 
My experience with the 6 starter vs the tr3/4 unit is that the 6 will out last it 2 to one. Its very well designed and built. Every dead tr6 I have ever seen had a good working starter on it!!!In fact next time I clean out the garage there will be several of these suckers that will have to be pitched out for lack of space.!!!
MD(mad dog)
 
Take a lesson from me: make sure the ring gear is in proper position before putting the engine back in!!! Mickey, you're probably getting close to my problem where over the years the ring gear has slid backwards on the flywheel and is getting almost to the point where its to far away for the starter to engage.
 
[ QUOTE ]
They work good. Big improvement over the giant Lucas starter labouring to crank the tractor engine over.

Bill

[/ QUOTE ]

If your starter labors to turn the engine over, it probably isn't getting enough voltage (amperage?) or needs to be rebuilt. After having done all this work on my car, I know I've now got both in order and mine works fine without any trouble at all.
 
Since my posting I've done some research and found an interesting option. As you all know new gear reduction starters aren't cheap, costing about $180 plus depending upon vendor. Well, turns out that most of these are Nippondenso units that have been modified to fit the TR with their prices jacked accordingly.

If my research is correct it would seem that the after-market starter for a 1989 Isuzu Trooper II ($65 at Autozone)is a close if not exact match for the higher priced models found on ebay and at the big-three. All that is needed is to modify the mounting plate/shim for depth engagement and to add a longer battery-to-starter power cable. I've confirmed that this starter is still available through Autozone, part #16878.

Check out this write-up for all the details:
https://www.teglerizer.com/triumphstuff/73gt6br_tropperstarter.htm
 
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