starter disengaging while starting

86 gt vert with a mini starter ( don't remember what brand) will disengage
while starting. Turn key to start; starter engages, and begins to turn motor over. But before the car starts the starter seems like it doesn't completely disengage, but enough to quit turning over the motor. Kinda sounds like
playing cards in the spokes of your bike. After a couple of tries, it will stay engaged long enough to fire up.
Don't know where to start. Could it be an alignment problem? Something came loose? I haven't checked anything yet. Wanted to get some ideas before I get into it.

BYRDPE said:

ditto...and update yo sig to include the starter.

Click to expand...

I'll pull the starter and check things out. Will I be able to tell if it's the bendix
just by looking at it? Probably will go with a new starter...then I'll update my sig.
Won't be for a few weeks. Thanks for the input

update 4-30-11

pulled the starter today, and this is what I found



What would cause this to happen? All the teeth have similar damage. Can I just replace the gear?