<sunday1@siwc.com> wrote:    97 Dodge Caravan SE, 2wd  3.3 L

I purchased a rebuilt starter at AutoZone.  It seems to match
the dimensions of my old one, except the rebuilt has an 11-tooth
pinion, where the old one had a 10-tooth pinion.

I talked with someone at the rebuilder, Duralast in TN who claimed
the OEM units can have 10 or 11 teeth on them, and that the
11-tooth one will work fine.    I was skeptical, so he suggested
taking it back to have it replaced with a 10-tooth unit.

My local AutoZone will be getting one or two in next week but they
don't know whether they will be 10-tooth or 11-tooth units.

Is there anyone here with any knowledge/experience with this?
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1.)   A pinion gear and its ring gear must have the same tooth pitch.
The tooth pitch is the pitch distance tooth-to tooth, measured along
the actual line of contact between the gears.   On each gear this line
is called the pitch diameter.

2.)   If you replace a 10-tooth pinion with an 11-tooth pinion of the
same pitch diameter, the 10 per cent mismatch will damage the gears.

3.)   If you replace a 10-tooth pinion with an 11-tooth pinion that
has a 10 per cent larger pitch diameter, the gears may match properly,
but this will bring up another problem: the larger diameter pinion must be
spaced or shimmed further away from the ring gear to avoid clashing.

Good luck.

Rodan.