Help with ford truck mini starter

The story starts with the clutch drive going in my Powermaster Ultra Torque starter, it started to grind when I was heading to the shop to change some rad hoses. It was Saturday and nowhere to get parts but we found my old starter in the storage pile and bolted it on, everything worked great. Since everyone was saying how great the '95 Ford F250 starter was I decided to order one and get the benefit of a lifetime warranty. Well bolted it on and it would start the truck but would drag for three or four seconds before disengaging, thinking it might be just a bad starter I exchanged it and got another one but it was the same. Now looking at them closer I noticed that the '95 starter has 10 teeth while the stock one has nine.

Some details; the truck had a 351M which lunched its rods and I dropped a late '70's 460 in it, it currently has a Hays 164 tooth flexplate in front of the C6. The Power Master mini starter has 9 teeth, the stock 351M starter has 9 teeth and the starter I had tried was a '95 Ford F250 with auto trans (10 teeth). Anyone have any idea which starter I should order? The Ultra Torque is rebuilt but after 4 swaps and the old original starter working and sounding great I'm not changing anything until I'm sure.

If the starter is staying engaged after the engine starts I bet you have a wire on the wrong post. Maybe Jon will post about this he helped me out with mine. It was doing the same thing.

If you are using a auto starter on a standard bell,it probably isn't engaging the flywheel properly.

How is wired? The Ford mini starter will hang and run on when engaged if not wired a certain way. The Powermaster/CVR. Hitachi and Denso style etc starters do not have to be wired the same. If you use a jumper wire from the starter to the solenoid on the Ford starter like I do on my CVR Denso style starter it will hang and run on.

The Ford starter must be wired so that the small wire to the solenoid on the starter goes to the starter relay switch on the fender instead of just jumping from the solenoid on the starter to the motor on the starter.

David Cole wrote:How is wired?   The Ford mini starter will hang and run on when engaged if not wired a certain way.  The Powermaster/CVR. Hitachi and Denso style etc starters do not have to be wired the same.   If you use a jumper wire from the starter to the solenoid on the Ford starter like I do on my CVR Denso style starter it will hang and run on.  

The Ford starter must be wired so that the small wire to the solenoid on the starter goes to the starter relay switch on the fender instead of just jumping from the solenoid on the starter to the motor on the starter.

Thank-you, I'll give that a try this week.

Video that does a better job of explaining it then I do.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S630atDFy_8

David Cole wrote:Video that does a better job of explaining it then I do.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S630atDFy_8

That's excellent, thank-you.

77f150 wrote:

David Cole wrote:Video that does a better job of explaining it then I do.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S630atDFy_8

That's excellent, thank-you.

Yep, if you jumper the big post on the starter to the smaller coil post, the starter will actually power the solenoid itself, causing it to hang.  Being that the starter is a permanent-magnet motor, as soon as you cut power to it, it becomes a generator rather than a motor, powering the solenoid & holding it engaged.

Why would you want to include the original starter solenoid on the fenderwell in the circuit like the video does? Just seems a little Rube Goldberg....

460bronco wrote:Why would you want to include the original starter solenoid on the fenderwell in the circuit like the video does?  Just seems a little Rube Goldberg....

It just helps from having to rewire a street ride for the charging system and any other assy controlled by the fender solenoid

460bronco wrote:Why would you want to include the original starter solenoid on the fenderwell in the circuit like the video does?  Just seems a little Rube Goldberg....

Well I can answer this one now, it's in case you do the wiring change and the PowerMaster Ultra Torque doesn't work right, or the F250 mini starter also doesn't work right and you end up back to the stock style starter. I appreciate all the help, the video made the wiring a breeze but the starters just never sounded correct.