4.2 Starter alignment problem

[Dan Doud]

Hi all!

I just joined this group and am hoping some of you can help me with a problem I am having with my 1976 CJ7. It has a stock 4.2 with a manual 3 speed behind it. I bought it a few years ago and the other day the starter Bendex broke. I decided to get a new starter from Napa and installed it. It worked but made a whining sound like the alignment wasn't right. I played around with it by losing the bolts and shimming it but couldn't get the sound to stop. After a few days the bendex in it quit engaging. I pulled the starter and took it back for another thinking it was a fluke only to find out the new one made the same noise. After a week of messing with it, it did the same thing! So I took that one back for another and the third one makes the same noise.

I'm wondering if the flywheel could be wrong. The engine looks like it's a crate engine that was installed by the last owners. Are there different styles of flywheels that were made through the years? If so what years are they? Also, are there different starters? From what I can tell the starter is the same from 1976 to 1986.

Also I tried a 87 wrangler starter to see if it would fit but it doesn't. Just was trying things out.
Dan

[amcinstaller]

4.0 and 4.2 starters are not interchangeable, the ring gear distances are different. Maybe they gave you 4.0 starters? Just spit balling, sorry.