To keep this short.... I am swapping a 1998 Magnum 360 into my old '86 W250. I am still using the truck while the Magnum is being built. Today my starter decided to take a crap. I had the entire donor truck for the '98 magnum so I just swapped in the starter from it. Bolted up fine aside from having to open the small starter solenoid terminal on my cable up just a bit. My question is this... has any one had this swap done for any length of time? are there any ill effects from doing this... ie starter gear wear, flywheel wear, damage of any sort? My concern is the differing number of teeth on a magnum and LA style flywheel. Any input would be helpful!

 

NO if fact everybody is using the magnium starters on there LA engines because they are smaller and faster. They are compatible and there should be no need for concern...Bill

 

Sweet thanks! I thought that this was a common swap but I wasn't sure and wanted some corroborating evidence. It's kind of amusing to get in my old 86 hit the switch and hear a newer truck firing up. I am just awaiting (kind of impatiently) my freshened up Magnum 5.9 to finish this swap and move on to the next thing!

 

It will be sweet thats for sure...Bill

 

my dakota has 78 318 i used my magnum starter like bill said there far better

 

Oh yeah... right away I noticed how much faster and easier the starting was. She spins right over. I pulled the old starter apart to see if I could just rebuild it as an emergency spare and I found it was full of dried mud.

 

Well you say its a off road truck and off road trucks love the mud. The muddier the better...Bill