hey all

I have a 97 f150 4.2L w/4R70W tranny - i have been getting a horrible grinding noise while in drive/reverse - only on acceleration - it's been driving me crazy trying to locate it

i went under and rapped the shields and cats and checked everything

replaced L motor mount cause it was shot - replaced all u-joints and greased the slip yoke

today i yanked the tranny out - thinking the flex plate was going - nope

that wasn't it - entirely

the problem seemed to be - the flexplate - was rubbing on the separator plate which i didn't think the 4.2L is suppose to have --- the back side of the flexplate was scuffed up and the sep plate also had bright shiny spots on it

also the starter drive gear was kinda chewed up at the very front like that was the only thing making contact with the flywheel

ok

So my question is can I leave off that separator plate - or does it do something more than cause problems


thanks

 

Success !!! I left the sep plate off - the truck runs great and the starter is making better contact with the flex plate ring

while i was under there i also changed the 3 u joints and lubed the lubeable front end parts that had zerks

have a great day


http://www.******.com/forums/photoplog/index.php?n=815

http://www.******.com/forums/photoplog/index.php?n=814


here's a look at MY problem