I spun the flyweel and inspected it and I have two or three consecutive teeth missing....floating around in the housing I expect. Wear on the rest of the teeth. I know I can turn it with a socket wrench and move off the damaged spot, but worried bout causing more damage.

Is it better to pull the engine to get access to the flywheel to replace the ring gear or drop the transmission and transfer case to get to the bell housing? Doing it myself in my garage, and I'm not a young buck anymore. Thoughts? Worthwhile to replace the clutch, pressure plate, throwout bearing, pilot bushing, resurface the flywheel and replace rear main seal as well?

 

I dropped the transfer case and transmission separately using my motorcycle jack. Transmission jack would have been better but I don't have one of those. I used short lengths of 4x4 posts as skids to sit on the m/c jack, screwed some 3/4" plywood to those, moved the jack into position under the transfers case, made light contact with the plywood to bottom of t-case. Then positioned some 2x4 scraps on the plywood so they would cradle the transfer case, lowered the jack and screwed the 2x4's in place. Put the jack back in position touching transfer case and removed the fasteners attaching to trans and the side frame mount, slid the t-case back far enough to clear transmission shaft and lowered it out of the way.

I did the same process for the transmission building an "adapter plate" for the jack, but with the transmission I did run a ratchet strap around it and the jack to keep it more secure. I had to unbolt the cross member to slide it back a little bit to give me enough room to slide transmission back from bell housing and lower it down. Took a bit more playing around with it than the transfer case to get it down, once it was down, I had to rotate it on its side to get it out from underneath the truck. If you don't have either a m/c jack or transmission jack it would be worth the rental cost to get a transmission jack.

If it were my truck, I would replace clutch (clutch kit usually comes with pilot bushing and throwout bearing), have the flywheel resurfaced when the new ring gear is installed, replace rear main seal and probably the input/output seals on the transmission and xfer case.

This is certainly one of those jobs that you can quickly fall down the "since I am here" rabbit hole though and if isn't that one, it's the "uh oh, I wasn't expecting that to be broken and now that needs to be replaced which means this needs to be replaced too" rabbit hole. I fell so far down those rabbit holes my engine, trans and transfer came out this summer. Trans and xfer case have been fully rebuilt and I need to get the engine reassembled now that I have all the machine work done on it and heads rebuilt. And all I was trying to do was "fix some oil leaks" that started with dropping the oil pan...

 

Wow, great description. Better than a you tube. Thanks! Best to remove the crossbar and take the transfer case off the transmission and move each one separately as opposed to leaving them attached and moving them as one?

Taking your advice as well on getting a transmission jack to make life a bit easier. Ordering a clutch kit, clutch tool and seals to address my wet underside. Looks as though I'm following down that same hole. Any other suggestions?

 

hard to tell? look at the top of the starter hole i see at least 5 bad teeth .that ring gear is toast and the reason the starter failed

 

Buy a new flywheel and only do the job once.
And either replace the stared or at least replace the starter drive.

 

Yes, removing as separate pieces is what I recommend, the transfer case weighs around 100# and so does the transmission. They are awkward to deal with on their own. Especially when you're working by yourself. Only way I would move them bolted together is if the body was off the frame and I could get an engine hoist or gantry crane connected to them securely.

As far as suggestions... Be prepared for everything to take way longer than you think it will, especially the parts clean up after you get things torn down. And if/when you get bored with the process or start to rush things just to get it done, remember those are the times you're going to make a mistake you'll have to go back and fix later and it'll takev at least twice as long to fix as it would have if you just did it right the first time. The most important part is remember to have fun and enjoy the hobby.

 

Yeah, good suggestion. No sense resurfacing the flywheel and replacing the ring gear when I can pick up a new flywheel for under $200. Getting a new starter as well.

The motor was replaced before I bought it 10 years ago at a machine shop and they used a 390 block out of a late 60's vechicle. I think it has a date code of 0A12? There is Code on the intake manifold that suggests a GT style with a S stamp. The flywheel was replaced with one to match the 390 motor when they pulled the original 300 strait six out. Don't know if its a 11-1/2 or 15-1/2 184 tooth yet.

Question - could my starter that I replaced back in 2019 be mismatched? When I changed it out back then, the ring gear looked great. This time not so much. Overcranking may be the culprit, but does it look as though it may not be properly aligned with the ring rear based on the wear?