Ford Broken starter ear

Hobby stock thunderbird with a 351 and a C4. Starter was going bad, bendix. Went to replace it last night and went for the easy bolt first, the bottom, figuring save the top bolt for the 10 extensions and 2 swivels I have. Needless to say the starter almost landed on my face when the bottom bolt came out. Top ear was snapped off, still on the bell housing. A quick internet search came back with a couple of answers, loose bolts, bad alignment and kickback seem to be the popular ones. Bolts where tight. When the bendix would engage it started fine so I don't think a bind. But it has kicked back more than a couple times. Timing is very advanced as the motor likes it, hard to start when hot. So Put the new starter on, and pulled the timing back a bit. Everything is good but want to avoid this in the future. Would a coil switch work good in this situation or actually make it worse? Thanks, Steve

Using the wrong bolts can do it too. Starter bolts have locating knurls or shoulders on them and using a regular threaded bolts in it's place can allow the starer to move around and break stuff off.

Do you have the tin that goes between the block and bell housing that is used to locate the starter on fords?

Thanks for the quick replies. Yes, it has the spacer plate in place. Also have the correct bolts. I've never had alignment problems on any small block fords when it comes to starters. Sb chevy? Yeah a ton. But fords seem to always fit and align good. The new starter works great, but even with the timing pulled back a little it still wants to kick back when cold starting it. Will a coil switch help this or make it worse. I don't want to pull so much timing out that it starts good but lays down on the track. But I also don't want to put the timing back in it, with a coil switch and do more damage. All thing being equal when you put in a switch to interrupt the coil is there a grater risk of loading the engine with fuel and causing a worse kickback? Steve

Make sure you have a starter with the correct snout… manual and automatic transmissions have a slightly different part.

Correct "starter bolts" are a Chevy deal… no worries there.

A coil switch is a good answer if you have the dizzy locked.

We kept killing starters on our 351W and Quick Time bells. Even took my bell back to Quick Time and got it checked on the jig. Everything checked out fine. We ended up putting a CRV starter on it and never had a starter problem again. Turned over so much better it was a totally different starting experience. A lot more expensive than stock but worth every penny.

SPark

Thanks again for the replies guys. Going to go ahead and put the coil switch in. The dist is locked out. So I think that's a good addition. Might let me put the advanced back in her. Also will plan on getting a performance gear reduction starter. I expect the stock nose on a ford starter is cast aluminum vs gear reductions machined mount? So could be the stock starter is just not up to the task. Steven

as mentioned here you will be much happier with the aftermarket starter. we tried a powermaster brand and it worked ok as well.