[Neil E.]

That clip is wound very tight in the groove. The manufacturer must have a single pass insertion tool that gets it installed perfectly. I didn't take mine off as I was sure I'd never get it back on snug.

I think Roscoe is referring to stretching the spring while it's still assembled. He must have moved the cover pieces enough to get at the spring. Stretching the spring would only help if you have a "fail to release after cranking" problem. The stronger spring would tend to retract the bendix faster. Based on my experience I thought the spring tension was about right and I left it alone. Shimming the cover makes more sense so the bendix gear has good play to the ring gear.

To me a stronger spring would actually make it harder for the bendix to engage when cranking. May I suggest something else? What about testing the cranking by jumping directly at the motor? This means leaving the plastic cover off. Pop the aluminum spacers out of the cover or use different bolts to hold everything together. Does it work any better if you put the jumper cable right on the motor stud? This would bypass any issue like poor connections.