Ford F150 starter does not engage, spins the catches off and on

Starter soups but doesn't engage. Clicking sound: you hear it spinning with a click sound before it starts spinning. No grinding sound. The mechanism to engage the fly wheel could be faulty, probably it is seized, or battery doesn't have enough power to make the solenoid fully pull mechanism (check battery amps charge if low. You may need to look at the starter as someone turns the motor over and make sure it's engaging all the way to fly wheel.
Sometimes you may need to Shem or file down where the two bolts go into the starter too get it far enough into the starter casing to get it to engage.
Walld"

Starter is bad. If you can hear a humming like a spinning but not engaging then you have a bald spot on you fly wheel. Not a cheap fix

You can try tapping the starter with a hammer slightly, and see if it starts, if it does then the starter is bad.

Timing marks on fly wheel . Get someone to help you; crawl under front of truck have helper bump the starter with the ignition key and watch for the timing marks on the flywheel.

I would check the fly wheel you could possible have teeth missing idk what kind of car you have to tell you how to check but a shop will know how to do it

Check the website for Autozone to get wiring diagrams free. If starter spins but doesn't engage, it is a bad starter drive located on the shaft of your starter. The solenoid is only there to spin the starter on a Ford. The centrifugal force engages the starter gear.

When you say 'it bumped the starter but did not turn the engine over' and 'it bangs the starter' it sounds like you mean it hits the flywheel and will not turn the engine. If it engages and does not turn the motor you need to try to manually turn both directions. Do not have the key in the ignition. If it won't turn you may have a froze up motor.
If you mean the starter spins freely but won't engage the engine - than you need a new starter. Let us know what you find out.

Does the starter engage the drive gear with the action of a solenoid? It may not be pushing (pulling) the gear far enough. There may be a slipping ring gear on the flex-plate. If you pull the starter again, you can try to see if the ring moves in and out or appears to be slipping around on the flex-plate. The flex plate could be loose on the crankshaft. In any case, the engine or the transmission would have to come out. Check the starter engagement before removing the torus and flex-plate.

Sounds like the starter drive is shot, best thing to do is replace starter with new or rebuild.

Starter ring is worn out.