Okay, so i finally got the tranny away from the motor for the clutch and slave cyclinder replacement. What freakin job so far. Pulled the clutch assembly off and the flywheel looks good. Well except for the ring gear, a couple of sections around the gear have the first half of teeth worn at the leading edge, but perfectly fine towards the trailing edge. Any thoughts on the worn teeth?

I'm contemplating replacing the flywheel, but I don't have an impact wrench nor a compressor. Any tips or tricks to get the bolts off? If an impact wrench is required, I guess I can rent or purchase a corded one.

Ed

 

A corded one will work fine. You will need it to "shock" the bolts.


You can replace the ring gear, but you need a torch

 

You can get the bolts out with a socket and breaker bar , you just need to wedge something like a prybar between the teeth of the fly wheel so it wont turn ....

 

You can remove the bolts with a ratchet and socket, use a bar or large reg screwdriver blade between two ring gear teeth and against a bell housing bolt or one of the alignment pins to hold the main shaft from rotating while you loosen them.

You need to torque the bolts when putting the replacement wheel on anyway, can't do that with an impact.
I don't often bother with a torque wrench but for fasteners such as those between the block and trans? You bet I do, insure properly tightened as so they do not fail.

 

You could also put a socket and bar on the front crank nut so as to bottom out on the ground when the rear bolts are turned/removed...if you don't want to use the teeth method...just a thought, never tried it

 

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll give them a try. I may still pick up an electric impact gun at Auto Zone for this job and others; they have one for $59. Hopefully I can get a replacement flywheel before this weekend. Neither of the two nearby parts stores has one; needs to be ordered. Do all 5.0s use the same flywheel?

 

You have to count the teeth on the ring gear

 

You will still need to hold the flywheel from spinning when you go to put another on and TORQUE the bolts

 

Wow, that's alot of teeth to count, and I'll probably mis-count them anyway LOL. Just cheked my VIN and the engine code is "N", which obviously states that it is a 5.0. Not sure why O'Riley's has an N-code, and a non-N-code, flywheel. Earlier today, the Counter guy said that they can only get the N-code flywheel, at twice the price of the other unavailable one. I'll check with Auto Zone next.

 

That's why I'll use one of the other methods suggested above to install it. Just looking for an excuse to get another power tool

 

Use a magic marker. When you count a tooth, put a mark on it. really simple

 

different starters require different amounts of teeth, if you use the wrong flywheel, the starter will grind the teeth off on the first start up

 

Okay then, looks like I'll be counting flywheel teeth then. Neither of the parts stores asked for the number of teeth that I'll need. Doesn't even show up on their screen.

 

get one of these for holding the flywheel and then you can use a breaker bar or torque wrench to unbolt and then to bolt the flywheel back up !
these will make your job a hole lot easier !

KD Tools 2270 - Flywheel Turner | O'Reilly Auto Parts

http://www.amazon.com/Wilmar-W80510-.../dp/B000FW4N5G

Walmart.com: Performance W80510 Flywheel Turner: Tools

 

That's about what I was going to suggest, i have that exact one from KD Tools and it works great. Using screw drivers or pry bars too often leads to loosing skin on knuckles. Breaker bar on a socket will work fine, or a long handled 1/2" drive socket wrench would do the trick too. NEVER USE A TORQUE WRENCH TO TAKE SOMETHING OFF!!! (unless it is specifically designed to do so).There is no more torque on those bolts than on your average HD lug nuts. Only between 65 - 100 ft-lbs if I remember correctly. If you're doing a clutch job the flywheel should be resurfaced anyway, and any decent shop that can do the resurfacing should be able to swap the ring gear for you.