Replacing starter motor

[matt16vwales]

Can anyone give me some tips on lining my new starter motor up with the gearbox. The gearbox dropped after removing the faulty motor, now i can't even put back my original starter. It is very close in fact i can see the bolt pushing the bracket as i tighten the bolt but it doesn't seem to be catching the threads. :confused:

[VeeDubber]

carefully jack up the tranny?

[Zestienkleppen]

Is your gearbox connected to the engine with some other bolts? It should, so it wont drop when you remove the starter motor.

[matt16vwales]

There are only 3 bolts connecting the starter motor and when these are undone and the starter is removed the gearbox lowers a few inches? You are supposed to support the gearbox when removing the starter but the gearbox still dropped - maybe i didn't have the jack in the right place? Hopefully i will be able to reposition the upper and lower brackets that the starter motor bolts onto.

[Marco]

I always placed the jack just under the flywheel housing. Alsways worked perfect. The problem is that one of the bolts of the starter is also a bolt for connecting the gearbox to the engine.

Suc6

[dubstarmk2]

just jack it up and giggle the truk out of it, and watch the bracket on the other side of the engine mount isnt twisted

[Zestienkleppen]

oh, I understand, your gearbox with engine dropped. And now the mounting holes don't line up.

Just jiggle a bit, jack it up, it's not that difficult, i did it today in 15 minutes.

[matt16vwales]

Thanks for all your help, i've got the new starter motor fitted. The reconditioned one i bought was shorter and fatter so it was a lot more difficult doing up the existing bolts and aligning them. The top bolt was a pain in the ass!! I used a long lever on the bracket to pull the bracket away from the engine and the thread caught. The brackets have holes for levering it into position. I put the jack underneath the flywheel and aligned the bottom two bolts first, then i levered the top bracket so the bolt would locate. Just in case anybody else has to do this! :)

[Marco]

ok, good to hear you fixed it :)