I recently pulled my drivetrain and replaced my ring gear. The "old" one was about 6 months old and got chewed up along with 6 starters in the process. With the engine already out, I spent about a grand rebuilding it. I am just about ready to mate the transmission up with the engine, but really want to be able to check the ring gear to starter gear clearance. Is it humanly possible to do on a 460?



My idea, , was to place the flywheel on the crank (no bolts) then use a clutch tool to bolt the pressure plate and clutch to the flywheel. I took the flywheel off the crank, put the whole assembly on the input shaft of the transmission, then bolted up the starter. Problem is, the starter is in the way and I can't see anything. To make matters worse, the clutch/flywheel was a bit wobbly so I was unable to get consistent results when engaging the bendix of the starter and spinning the flywheel by hand. Sometimes there was grinding, sometimes it spun nice and smoothly.




Can anybody give me some advice before I go to the trouble of putting the engine in the truck, hooking up all the auxillary stuff, and finding out my alignment is off? The last thing I want to do is pull the drivetrain a second time!

 

A little background on the starter sage for those who are not familiar with it:

Last year, I replaced the flywheel after being unable to start the truck (lots of grinding). The previous owner had stripped the threads on the bottom mounting hole in the transmission (ZF5). At the time of the breakdown, I was running the starter with 1 bolt. At the same time that I replaced the flywheel, I JB welded a stud in the bottom hole so I could put a nut over it and have the starter mounted at two points. After the first couple starts, the stud came loose and I broke a starter gear. After that, I re-tapped the lower hole and put a larger bolt in. This required me to drill out the bottom hole on the starter to make it slightly bigger. I'm not sure if it was due to a ring gear that I had damaged (no broken teeth, no blatantly obvious wear) or due to the fact that I was possibly drilling the lower starter hole crooked/oblong, but at that point, I was going through starters every couple weeks and being stranded more times than not. Fast forward to last month, I pulled the engine, replaced the flywheel which was pretty tired looking, had a machine shop weld up and re-tap the lower hole to the correct size, and bought a new starter. In theory, everything has been fixed properly and should work. In practice, things rarely work according to plan. I really want to be sure this is done correctly before putting the engine back in.....

 

What is the part number on the flywheel? It looks like a C8 sumthin. What is the tooth count?

 

D9TE external balance. Napa part number NCF 88109. It's a 180 tooth. I'm fairly certain I have the right flywheel....since my starter mounting holes have been modified, I am more concerned with actually measuring clearance as opposed to double checking part numbers (though it certainly doesn't hurt to get a second opinion on having the right parts!)


Thanks for the reply.

 

I was just concerned that someone threw an FE wheel on it(same pattern and will fit), but the count is different and might give you fits with tearing up teeth. A 428 FE stock wheel also has that pie piece on the back side to balance the rotating assembly(that was what caught my eye first). The 428 is the only external balanced FE.

I tried blowing up the picture but couldn't read the part number well enough.

 

It's always nice to have a second, experienced set of eyes. Somebody on my build thread suggested running a piece of playdough between the ring gear and the starter gear. I'm going to give it a try.

 

If the motor is still out this is what I would do.

1.Bolt the flywheel to the crank without the clutch and pressure plate.
2.Apply gear marking compound to the teeth.
3.Bolt tranny to motor.
4.Install starter.
5.Spin motor.
Take it back apart and check the pattern.

Mark

 

Not to argue, it's a good thought ... I have never tried gear marking compound for this on a Ford ... I have on another brand, it didn't work!

Here is why, turning the motor by hand with the bendix gear engaged doesn't apply enough pressure to make recognizable marks ... Using the starter to spin the motor could possibly cause damage.

-Enjoy
fh : )_~

 

Let's keep in mind this is a rebuilt engine that has never been fired, so I don't want to mess with spinning the motor unnecessarily. Maybe playdough will do the trick.

 

Agreed!

Not to hijack, Out of curiosity what did you use for Assembly lube's and where?

-Enjoy
fh : )_~

 

Put some oil in the pan and prime the oil pump. Don't worry about it. a few dozens revolutions won't do anything.

 

I put assembly lube on main bearings, rod bearings, lifter bottoms.....there is oil in the engine and the pump has been primed. After fighting this thing until two oclock this morning, I broke down and loaded it on a trailer. Later this morning, I dropped it off at the machine shop. They were hesitant to work on it, and called a guy who said he wanted to use the dust cover to make sure the holes are properly located....been there, done that. The holes are in the factory location. The problem seems to be elsewhere. How can a #$%^& starter be this difficult???? This really shouldn't be the hardest part of a near frame-off restoration. A starter?!?!?!

 

Then there wouldn't have been any issue spinning the engine with the starter. Bolt the transmission and engine together, paint the flywheel and starter with gear marking compound, and see where the teeth are meshing, and work from there.

 

Ok, Let us forget about any possibility of damaging the freshly rebuilt motor by unnecessary cranking ...

Let us just think about the possibility of destroying another starter and possibly a flywheel or Bell housing.

It is of my opinion that the risk is not worth it, when there is another way that is safe!

-Enjoy
fh : )_~