Starter Dilemma

[Kyle Boatright]

My Prestolite starter is being troublesome. The starter is spinning but the bendix isn't engaging. I doubt that the bendix is gunked up because I recently cleaned and lubed it. Given that the starter has 900 hours and (?) 1500 starts on it, I figure it is probably due for a rebuild with new brushes, etc. There is a local shop that will probably do it for a hundred bucks.

The kicker is that I need the weight up front or I'd go with a new, lightweight starter.

The alternative to the Prestolite is probably a Skytec inline starter for $450 or so after taxes, shipping, etc. I'd also have to mount a Landoll ring on the flywheel to maintain W/B. For those of you with the Landoll ring and a wood prop, is that a decent combination?

So here I sit, wondering which direction to take...

Thoughts?

[Neal@F14]

I've got a Landoll ring on my flywheel, and a Skytech lightweight starter and it seems to be OK for my plane. Yeah I wish I had a bit more weight on the nose, but so far the aft CG issue has been manageable as long as I don't put too much stuff in the baggage compartment. Switching to the Sensenich ground adjustable prop did add 3 more lbs onto the nose, but when I recalculated the W&B, it only shifted the CG forward a tiny amount. I'd say go for the NL starter... it's a good one. I put one on my old Cherokee 140 and it was a vast improvement in starting power over the old Prestolite boat anchor.

EDIT: BTW, the additional inertia given to the flywheel by the Landoll ring really does make the engine/prop combo run smooth and IMHO, helps a bit with starting up too. Finding one may be a bit of a challenge since Landoll is retired and out of business for a couple years now, and I don't know if anyone else has begun manufacturing anything like it again.