CJ7 Starter not Meshing after Rebuild

[dadare]

1064121

Hello folks. Any help here is appreciated cause I'm losing my mind on this. Got a CJ7 total restoration with the 258. New ring gear, new starter. As you know, the starter is a non-shim type. I've gone through two bad rebuilt starters (Advanced Auto), both having stuck Bendix gears. Got a decent starter and almost always when trying to start, it sounds as if the motor were already running with the high pitched scream. Took the starter off and put some marking dye on the Bendix and saw that it's not meshing deep enough in the rign gear. Okay, big problem: the starter cannot be adjusted inward towards the ring gear. Tried loosening the aluminum bell housing to motor bolts and tapping the aluminum bell housing cover over more to allow a little more meshing. No go. I'm perplexed on this one and am out of clues other than the possibility of a wrong or out of spec ring gear. What the heck am I missing here?

Thanks! :-? [addsig]

 

[MudderChuck]

1064135

Don´t know about the CJ7 per say, but over the years, I´ve seen a difference in automatic starters and 6/V-8 starters. Count the number of teeth on the origanal starter and the replacement starter. Sometimes the little gear has one more tooth or one less tooth. Sometimes you have to have the matching flywheel/flexplate and starter gear. The only adjustment, I can remember on the non-shim type starter is the spacer at the end of the bendix shaft (how deep the gear goes in).[addsig]