Starter question...

[Jgreemo]

Hi all, after recently replacing my fuel lift pump, I am now doing the same for the starter. Thing is, I removed a 28MT (gear reduction) and the parts salesman gave me an Autolite (keep your fingers crossed) direct drive replacement. Are these two interchangeable? I have a DSG 6.5, but the starter was a Delco that had been on my old block, so I am assuming I should be ok.

Just wanted to be certain. I did note the front support bracket was missing, so I am hitting the dealer on Monday to pick one up before I install the new one. Since I have the rest of the weekend off, I figured I would take both starters and batteries down to the parts store to have them tested.

Just want to check on that starter interchangability. Thanks,
Jon

[Robyn]

The old style direct drives will work.
The gear reductions seem towork well.
I have had both and had no real troubles either way.
The local rewinder tells me that the gear drive is a better starter.

Robyn

[ccole]

I think you will be fine either way. I have used direct drives and gear reduction on 6.2's and couldnt really see much difference. A local diesel shop guy recently told me, that he recommends the "direct-drive" starter. He said his experience is that the direct drive starter works better during hot starts. But, as I mentioned above.......I haven't noticed much of a performance difference between the two.

[ZZ]

I had an '85 that I converted. It cranked a lot faster with the gear reduction, but then the old starter might have been dragging worse than I thought.