Perkins 107 starter removal

[bsfree]

Wondering if any of you guys has experience with removing a Perkins 107 starter motor. I know it shouldn't be a big deal, but the darn thing won't come out, least not yet. I removed the two bolts from the top and the nut from the stud on the bottom, there are two spacers between the starter and the casing, and an oil fitting with two lines at the rear of the starter. I can move the starter easily but not enough to get it out, I can't even see the end of the pinion casing. Could it be the oil fitting has to be removed first? Doesn't make a lot of sense. I took pictures this morning, but forgot to bring the usb cable to work. Hoping someone knows the way on this.

[bsfree]

Answering my own post here, but it may help someone else. I managed to remove the starter, the trick was to keep the spacing plates as close to the flywheel casing as possible while angling the starter away from the engine.
Not an easy task, especially as the starter weighs at least 40lbs.

[dougyoung]

Thanks, I have a 4-107 and that is good to know. Are you repairing or re-placing? Let us know what make and model if you go new.

[bsfree]

I'm going over the whole engine, the PO had tried to stop a coolant leak with additives that really just clogged everything. The leak had caused a lot of rust on the starter so I wanted to have it rebuilt to avoid future trouble. My manual says I have a 107, but a buddy says it may be a 109 industrial unit. In any event, they are all pretty much the same. Although the side the starter is on can be different. Mine is on the port side under the manifold, which I'd removed for access. The stud length caused the removal problem because it limited clearance, I think I'll try to screw it in a 1/4" or so more, or maybe replace it with a slightly shorter one.
The Perkins engines are pretty much bullet proof, it's the bolt on parts that are more likely to fail. Apart from the rust, the only thing I found "wrong" on the starter was the inner solenoid was loose. The bendix was like new and the flywheel looks fine. I've been working on the boat for a couple of years, a 32' Challenger, and am finally close to finishing, least as close as one gets with a boat.

[bsfree]

Had the starter rebuilt and tried to reinstall it, no dice. A buddy works on boats for a living and came over to help this morning. Turns out the bottom stud is not a stud at all, it is a bolt that comes through from the rear. He loosened it with vice grips, then put the nut on the end and hit it back with a hammer. Then took off the nut and installed the starter, holding it in place with one top bolt, then the other top bolt, then using another bolt to drive the bottom bolt back to its original position. That's when he left and I finished tightening the fasteners. Bottom line is, it's good to know that things are not always the way they appear to be, even if your brain insists that the assumption is correct, if it's not going the way it should, question it! Had I been at sea, alone, with an important mechanical task to do, I may have been in serious trouble still thinking the darn thing was a stud.