MTFCA Forum

I thread on the AACA sight, a member says he has a T starter that rotates the wrong way. That's a new one on me, anyone heard of this

Wrong deleted

Required for cars used south of the equator.

Are you sure it is for a T? It could be for a Model A which has a positive ground.
Norm

Would not matter which ground is used. Model T or A, is going to turn the same way no matter what ground is used. It would have to be the windings that the guy that rebuilt the starter used before they got the car. I know I saw a post about this before he asked on the AACA forum, thought it was here.

The starter drive for the early Abel type Model A Ford starter turns the opposite direction but has the same starter shaft diameter as a Model T Ford. You need to get a Model T starter drive .

kmatt2 wrote: ↑

Sat Feb 17, 2024 3:12 am

The starter drive for the early Abel type Model A Ford starter turns the opposite direction

Speaking as someone that has an original Abel drive starter on their Model A, they rotate the same direction as any other Model A starter, clockwise. I also have an early starter that would have used the Abel type drive but was changed to the Service Drive that Ford had to convert it to the much smoother Bendix type drive. The Abel drive is much more of a hammer and anvil approach, but it was cheaper than paying Bendix. The spring for the Model T bendix and the Service Drive for the Abel conversion are close, but different and this is called out in some of the Model A Service Bulletins, though some insist they are the same.

t-time wrote: ↑

Fri Feb 16, 2024 11:35 pm

Required for cars used south of the equator.

But, somehow someone screwed it up!

Both Model A and T starters are series/parallel wound DC motors and will only spin clockwise (as viewed from the Bendix drive end) regardless of the polarity of applied voltage. If one turns counter clockwise there has been some serious modifications done inside.
I think the AACA fellow has mistaken the starter for another type car starter but it is very hard to not recognize a Model T starter. The armature shaft is about 16 inches long and half that prutrudes outside the case.
Ron Patterson

The problem I was told by a many year Model A restorer friend is that the Model T starter engages the flywheel ring gear from behind the flywheel and the Model A starter engages the flywheel ring gear from the front of the flywheel. Both starters turn the same direction, Model T starter drive spring and the Able Model A starter spring are different, this may be what my friend was talking about.