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I am at my wit's end. My '46 Packard starting motor keeps breaking the cast iron nose cone. The flywheel is true, the ring gear on the flywheel has been replaced, the starter has been rebuilt and then I purchased another one from Max Merritt Parts. Both wound up with broken nose cones. I installed a 'kill' switch on the starter to disable it while driving, just to avoid the possibility that it might try to engage when I was at speed. I still broke the cast nose cone. I have NEVER heard of this happening before on any vehicle, unless the timing was way off, causing the motor to buck backwards. My timing is perfect. The car runs like a dream and everything is perfect except for this. I am fresh out of ideas and welcome anyone who can point me in the right direction. It is far too costly for me to keep going on with trial and error. Thanks in advance.

Al

it is not much fun to r and r the flywheel, you talked about the ring gear being replaced-if that started your nosecone fractures i would look for a used flywheel with a good gear. might also check the starter drive. which engine is it ?

Any chance you're running 12 volts?

How about crankshaft end play? If the thrust bearing is worn too much perhaps it is allowing the flywheel to move too far forward and contact the starter housing or bendix. I've seen this occur on two different occasions where engines ran like clockwork but had worn thrust bearings. You can check it by simply pulling, pushing or prying on the crank pulley to see how much lateral movement the engine has. I couldn't afford to perform a permanent fix at the time but substituded with a temporary fix by fabricating about a .060 thousandths spacer plate to go between the starter and bell housing.

Gator has a good suggestion. Used to see this a lot in Ford engines, but I'm sure it can happen in most makes. Running a 6 volt starter on 12 volts can increase the risk of this happening, but shouldn't cause it to happen this often.

Do you have a good starter ready to go? I would mount it and do a quick test cycle with the starter, then remove the starter and see how far the gear is engaging. Also, check the endplay as suggested.

-Jason