I have a 63 F100 223 with a bad ring gear. I'd rather get a whole new or used flywheel than have the ring gear replaced. I've heard all 6 cylinder Fords use the same flywheel up until the mid 80's.

Does anyone know if this is true? I'm getting tired of push-starting the truck. Getting good leg strength though.

 

I do not have an answer to your specific question but I'll offer a couple of comments that may help.

I rebuilt my trans a while back, I replaced my flywheel (81 F100 300 w/SROD) because it had tiny (and some not so tiny) cracks and the ring gear had chipped teeth.

First flywheel I picked up looked great -- till I went to install, the holes were just a tiny bit off (like I could get two bolts onto the crank but not others. Went back to boneyard (this time I took my flywheel); got one that matched perfectly -- except the ring gear was chipped.

Got it anyway (cause the surface was nearly perfect). I then heated the ring gear (flywheel is now sitting on my Shop-mate table) with a propane torch (I noticed a tiny line of oil was beginning to exit from the flywheel/ring gear junction). (Move torch around and around to heat evenly) While hot (wear gloves) I used a small cold chisel to begin a separation between the ring gear and flywheel (this is on the back side of the ring gear). Once you get a 1 mm or so separation you can begin prying around and around (hurry!) with a standard (large) screwdriver till the ring gear is off.

Now here is the cheap part of me: When I was ready to put them back together (the next day, 'cause I had other stuff to do) I turned the ring gear around and put it on backwards; the unused corners of the gears are now toward the starter (new starter by the way, I think the old one is what messed up the ring gear). How? Well, I put the flywheel (clean) in my freezer for about an hour, and my ring gear in the oven at 300 degrees for about 15 min. (My wife was at work, you adjust this to fit your survival skills).

Now work fast: Take the flywheel out and put it on the bench, go to the oven (gloves, gloves, gloves) and get the ring gear, place it over the flywheel, get it started evenly and begin to tap with a ball pein (peen? how do you spell that, anyway?) around and around the ring gear. About the time it has reaches the bottom (and begins to get level with the flywheel surface) I used a steel rod and hammer to hit the ring gear at about every two hour mark on a clock until it cools. (I did not want to take a chance and hit the flywheel with the hammer, maybe it wouldn't matter).

All set. You can buy new ring gears fairly reasonably, too.

I made up the temperatures and times -- so they have no scientific basis. I suspect 300 degrees is too low in temperature to begin affecting temper -- I understand 600 is a minimum for that (we're talkin' degrees F).

New (to me) flywheel got rid of chatter on take off, and haven't had any problems with any part of the system.

Moral: flywheels may not be the same for all, look closely; ring gears can be replaced or reversed easily.

Good luck; I hope this long message is of some help to someone.

 

I believe that they are all the same.

my 88' model has a 66' casting #

Raul... you say that the holes wouldn't line up on the crank. you do know that the flywheel will only go in one way. if they don't all line up keep turning it one hole at a time till they all line up good.

 

Really!

No, I did not. I just assumed that the holes were equally spaced. The second flywheel I got did have an additional set of holes, so it was different (maybe different year with greater versitility, who knows). Maybe if I had turned the flywheel on the crank it would have eventually lined up. Well, the good news is, the surface on the second flywheel was much better than the first.

God protects fools and drunks (and I wasn't drinking that day).

Thanks for info.

Raul

 

flipping the ring gear has been around about as long as starters have been turning flywheels. Always a great idea. Some though are cut to only go on one way. They have a beveled cut on the starter side. The older ones were a straight cut gear. Just look before you flip and all should go well!

 

That was very interesting Raul. I didn't know that could be done.