6.7 starter in a 7.3

ithumpwheniwalk · Dec 17, 2017

Had my starter die this weekend and ran across this on youtube. I remember a bunch of people talking about it, but someone did it and made a video. Actually compares all of the powerstroke starters. Looks like any year will bolt up to a 7.3?

Guy did a good job. Hope no one minds me sharing... Credit to Youtube user Seek and Repair

Starter specs and teardown:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0ewFX_nl50

Comparison of 7.3 starters and the 6.7 installed:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EU2FHQs9F9k

campbellflage · Dec 17, 2017

Something isn't right with that truck in the vid, hope he pulled a fuse so it wouldn't start in most of those videos. I put a 7.3 "Denso" style starter in mine and it sounds just like the 6.7 one in the vid. Got it from orilleys

Edit: watched his other video, he was unhooking his tuner resulting in no start

BigRed97 · Dec 29, 2017

Wish he had hooked up a scan tool to watch the actual cranking RPM on each starter.

dsberman94 · Dec 29, 2017

Every new 7.3 starter I’ve put in sounds like the 6.7 start for a while. Then it eventually turns into sounding like a normal gear reduction 7.3 starter.

mandkole · Dec 31, 2017

Op, did you do the nose cone swap on the 6.7 starter? My plan was to buy a new denso, but I'm thinking a lot about this swap as well.

Gary · Jan 1, 2018

mandkole said:
Op, did you do the nose cone swap on the 6.7 starter? My plan was to buy a new denso, but I'm thinking a lot about this swap as well.

So it takes a nose cone swap to make a 6.7 starter work on a 7.3???

I was going to put a 6.4 on a 7.3, bought the starter and there was no way the 6.4 nose would bolt up to the 7.3.
I've been using 6.4 starters in 6.0's and that's a nice upgrade, at the local parts store the 6.0 starter and the 6.4 starter are almost the same price, about $125 each, a 6.7 is about $240 so that's why I haven't tried that swap yet. those prices are for brand new starters.

ghohouston · Jan 1, 2018

I was gonna ask the same thing. A couple years ago i was gonna try a 6.0 starter. Bought one from an oreillys iirc. There was no way that was gonna bolt up to a 7.3. I see from the video now.

ithumpwheniwalk · Jan 1, 2018

mandkole said:
Op, did you do the nose cone swap on the 6.7 starter? My plan was to buy a new denso, but I'm thinking a lot about this swap as well.

I have not tried it myself. I did pay the core fee and kept my old starter. Waiting on a 6.7 starter from the local wrecker and then I'm going to try the swap. Might be a couple of months, as I work in camp.

Gary · Jan 1, 2018

Watch the end of the video posted in the first post, at the end he explains how the nose cones have to be changed. I'll never buy another 7.3 starter again.

7.3obs · Jan 1, 2018

Anyone have a nose cone off a sd 7.3 they wanna part with? Obs starters are different. I think this would help with these -10* cold starts!

79jasper · Jan 1, 2018

Iirc, don't the sd 7.3 starters only have 2 mounting holes vs the obs 3?
People swap the sd 2 hole to the obs all the time.
Is there a difference in the nose? So say does it really matter if you use OBS or SD?

Sent from my SM-G892A using Tapatalk

7.3obs · Jan 2, 2018

The picture I attached shows obs vs sd starter, the obs nose cone looks to be a larger piece than the super duty.

mandkole · Jan 5, 2018

With the above picture, it reminds me of something that was not discussed in the video. ... This video nose swap would seem to work only on the Denso gear reduction units. That said, I think Ive still got the earlier direct drive (Mitsu style) unit in the 2000, so at minimum I'd need to have a 7.3 gear reduction core before being able to study the swap. I'll be getting under it shortly to relook at everything again.

hucorey · Jan 9, 2018

All starters are gear reduction. The Mitsubishi is a planetary gearset, and the DENSO style is an offset.

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

mandkole · Jan 9, 2018

hucorey said:
All starters are gear reduction. The Mitsubishi is a planetary gearset, and the DENSO style is an offset.

Gotcha, I only recently discovered that after watching some mitsu rebuild vids and noticed the planetary drive. Just never paid attention before but makes sense..

7.3obs · Feb 6, 2018

So I did the swap. If anyone is thinking about doing this mod. I suggest it 110%! Was 16 here all day and truck fired right up https://youtu.be/KtwexEpVILg . I’m waiting for some bellow zero temps to really test this, I will have a YouTube video of the comparison when that happens and I will post the link here. The nose cone needed is the same style starter off of a excursion. There are two different style super duty gear reduction starters out there, then the obs ones.

Picture attached is my old starter next to the 6.7 starter.
The nose cone swap was rather easy.

mandkole · Feb 6, 2018

Nice result!

Since I only have 125K on the truck, I pulled the mitsu starter out a couple of weeks ago for inspection and cleaning. There was a ton of life on the brushes. Cleaned up the commutator, all contacts, and gave the planetary some light lube and cleanup. It works much better but it doesn't crank like that 6.7 does.

May have to collect some parts over time and give it a go as some point.

Powerstroke Man 6.4 · Feb 7, 2018

7.3obs said:
So I did the swap. If anyone is thinking about doing this mod. I suggest it 110%! Was 16 here all day and truck fired right up https://youtu.be/KtwexEpVILg . I’m waiting for some bellow zero temps to really test this, I will have a YouTube video of the comparison when that happens and I will post the link here. The nose cone needed is the same style starter off of a excursion. There are two different style super duty gear reduction starters out there, then the obs ones.

Picture attached is my old starter next to the 6.7 starter.
The nose cone swap was rather easy.

Do you have any way to watch/monitor cranking RPM?

7.3obs · Feb 7, 2018

Powerstroke Man 6.4 said:
Do you have any way to watch/monitor cranking RPM?

Yes, snap on mt2500. When it warms back up I’ll get my built truck running and turn my hydra to no start and check what it turns for rpms. Then I’ll try my work truck that has the 6.7 starter. I’ll pull #9 fuse so it won’t start.

gnxtc2 · Feb 7, 2018

7.3obs said:
So I did the swap. If anyone is thinking about doing this mod. I suggest it 110%! Was 16 here all day and truck fired right up https://youtu.be/KtwexEpVILg . I’m waiting for some bellow zero temps to really test this, I will have a YouTube video of the comparison when that happens and I will post the link here. The nose cone needed is the same style starter off of a excursion. There are two different style super duty gear reduction starters out there, then the obs ones.

Picture attached is my old starter next to the 6.7 starter.
The nose cone swap was rather easy.