Thanks for the responses!
I'm not holding out much hope for finding the parts, but did find a couple of shops that seem to specialize in starter and alternator rebuilds which I'll give a call along with Hartzell on Tuesday.
One more question - is it possible to tell by sight which kind of pinion is installed? My starter was mismatched to the ring gear (starter 149 tooth, ring gear was 122). I just replaced the flywheel + ring gear but I'm slightly suspicious that the pinion in the starter was replaced with a 122-matching pinion - I don't know how to tell for sure, but I never had problems starting besides it sounding a little off. If I get the pinion replaced I want to be sure they put in the right one for a 144 tooth ring.
Maybe having a broken tooth is evidence enough that they were mismatched?
the 122 and 149 ring gears require different pinion gears. They have different tooth counts and/or a different pitch IIRC, but don't remember the numbers. A msimatch here is likely to create broken teeth. Pinions are hardened and the ring gear is not, so would expect the ring gear teeth to break first.
Got a new starter pinion installed, along with a replacement solenoid since the old one didn't test to be reliable.
The mechanic told me it's the same pinion as a 90s Ford Taurus: part 4-355, which possibly means something to someone, but I can't find anything concrete.
He also pointed out it was wired incorrectly, though it seems to line up with what I can find in the Skytec docs, so I'd love to hear other opinions.
He said, being a permanent magnet starter, it should have 2 wires: One (large gauge) always energized, and a second wire separately attached to the smaller post on the starter with #10 wire which is engaged by the starter relay.
He demonstrated it on the bench: When wired up the way I had it (with both power terminals linked together), removing power kept the pinion engaged for a few more seconds as the starter spun down. When wired up the way he suggested, removing power only from the trigger terminal immediately retracted the starter pinion (i.e., what's supposed to happen).
Looking at the Skytec instructions, it only mentions a single power terminal, and though it's hard to see in the diagram I believe the two power terminals on the solenoid are joined together.
Can anyone confirm that Skytec XLT starters are typically wired with only 1 wire? Is there a reason I shouldn't run a second wire besides the effort in doing so?
Here's a similar guide to doing this in a car though the timing of the pinion retracting isn't mentioned.
Edit: I just found this specifically mentioning the delay in disengaging.
I can hear my sky tech drag for a couple of seconds before it disengages. If this is true then it all makes sense as to why this happens on mine. I don’t like it but it has been running like this for 1000 hours without issues.
Off the plane and on the bench, it’s very obvious - I’ll see if I can duplicate it at home and grab a video before I mount it.
Got a new starter pinion installed, along with a replacement solenoid since the old one didn't test to be reliable.
The mechanic told me it's the same pinion as a 90s Ford Taurus: part 4-355, which possibly means something to someone, but I can't find anything concrete.
He also pointed out it was wired incorrectly, though it seems to line up with what I can find in the Skytec docs, so I'd love to hear other opinions.
He said, being a permanent magnet starter, it should have 2 wires: One (large gauge) always energized, and a second wire separately attached to the smaller post on the starter with #10 wire which is engaged by the starter relay.
He demonstrated it on the bench: When wired up the way I had it (with both power terminals linked together), removing power kept the pinion engaged for a few more seconds as the starter spun down. When wired up the way he suggested, removing power only from the trigger terminal immediately retracted the starter pinion (i.e., what's supposed to happen).
Looking at the Skytec instructions, it only mentions a single power terminal, and though it's hard to see in the diagram I believe the two power terminals on the solenoid are joined together.
Can anyone confirm that Skytec XLT starters are typically wired with only 1 wire? Is there a reason I shouldn't run a second wire besides the effort in doing so?
Here's a similar guide to doing this in a car though the timing of the pinion retracting isn't mentioned.
Edit: I just found this specifically mentioning the delay in disengaging.