Bell Housing

evanso1975 · Post by **evanso1975** » Sat Jul 23, 2011 5:18 am

Hello All,

When I bought my M38, the flywheel, bell housing & starter motor were missing. I bought a starter motor off Ebay (part # MCZ4001UT). The bell housing I got was off an MB, thinking that it would fit ok, right? WRONG! There is no way the starter motor will ever fit to this.

I'm guessing that I now need the later bell housing (the one with the six bolts for the inspection plate). Is this right?

Thanks in advance,
Owen.

ocwd · Post by **ocwd** » Sat Jul 23, 2011 7:41 am

Are you running a 24 volt starter? If so, there is a late starter and an early starter. Also, I have a used late M38 bell housing if you are interested.

Bill_F · Post by **Bill_F** » Sat Jul 23, 2011 10:47 am

I also have a used late bellhousing available if needed.

evanso1975 · Post by **evanso1975** » Sat Jul 23, 2011 11:22 am

This is the starter I intend to use:

And here's the part numbers:

As I understand it, this is the "late" starter motor (same as the M38A1??), so I'm assuming I need the late bell housing (yes, I am interested!). Hate to think what shipping to the UK will be, though. Can anyone confirm that my assumptions on the type of bellhousing required are correct?

Thanks,
Owen.

Bill_F · Post by **Bill_F** » Sat Jul 23, 2011 11:39 am

You have the late starter. You also need to make sure your flywheel is the later one.

evanso1975 · Post by **evanso1975** » Sat Jul 23, 2011 11:47 am

Thanks for the confirmation, Bill. I have the late flywheel (129-tooth).....

Thanks,
Owen.

Post by **wesk** » Sat Jul 23, 2011 11:50 am

I'm guessing that I now need the later bell housing (the one with the six bolts for the inspection plate). Is this right?

Yes. The late M38 starter is what you have and it was also used on the M38A1 and M170.

The main differences in early vs late starters are the size and the drive ends. This is not unique to military only. From the 1941 MB thru the 1971 CJ5 they ran either a small frame starter that mounts with 3/8" bolts or the large frame starter that mounts with 1/2" bolts. The small frame starters have a open nose or drive end and the large frame starters have a closed nose drive end.

The small frame starters are divided into MB and early CJ's 10 tooth pinion and 97 tooth flywheel ring gear and 9 tooth pinion and 124 tooth flywheel ring gear. The large frame starters all use the 9 tooth pinion and the 129 tooth flywheel ring gear.

The small frame starter bell housings have the 3/8" starter mount holes and the bushing in the rear face of the bell in line with the starter to support those small frame starters with the extended drive pinion shaft. These small frame starter bell housings will accept the 97 and 124 tooth flywheels but some will not accommadate the 129 tooth flywheel. The more modern large frames starter bell housings can accommadate any of the flywheels but only work with the large framed closed nose starter which must be used with the 129 tooth flywheel ring gear.

I put together a chart to illustrate the relationship between each of the above about 6 years ago.

evanso1975 · Post by **evanso1975** » Sat Jul 23, 2011 12:27 pm

Thanks for this, Wes. Great information, as usual......

Thanks,
Owen.