I have a 46 Willys CJ2A and one of the two bolts holding the large coil spring on the shaft backed out and It would not turn over.I pulled the starter and tightened the nut with a little locktite but I noticed that the entire armature had about 3/4 to 1in. of play inside the housing.In other words the entire internal mechanism would slide this much back and forth inside the housing when everything was tight and put back together...is this normal?

is it the entire armature moving or just the bendix gear on the end of the shaft? If it is the whole armature it is not normal.