LongBoardLarry

Went out to start my car and the starter just spun so I thought I hada bad starter so i pulled it and after I took it off I checked the ring gear and it was loose.
Dropped the tranny and the ring gear was off the fly wheel.
Can this be fixed or do I need a new flywheel?
I current flywheel and ring gear are in great shape.

Thanks

FB II

try a new starter.

LongBoardLarry

Starter is good the ring gear came off the flywheel.

Kentetsu

Wow, that's a new one on me! Maybe you could have it welded back on, but not sure if there would be balancing issues to consider.... Maybe its just time to upgrade to a lighter flywheel.

bliffle

It's probably easiest and cheapest to replace the whole flywheel/ringgear assembly with one from the junkyard. My guess is that the ringgear was worn and replaced sometime in the past and the mechanic didn't do a good job of shrink fitting the gear to the flywheel. At the factory they heat the gear in an oven but the mechanic just has his acetylene torch. I've done it with a torch and been surprised that they always worked because it looks to me like a chancey process. Seems to me if it's a little cocked it can come loose later.

capt murph

I have replaced ring gears and used a torch - never heard of one coming loose.

If a new ring gear is available, I would not hesitate heating with a torch to expand it and install it. However, it may be cheaper to replace the entire flywheel, as bliffle sugested.

TheTwinTurboRX-7

That happened to my honda race car, I cut it off and push started it for the rest of the racing season. If there is a new ring gear available you can just replace it, honda did not sell a ring gear for my car so I just changed the whole flywheel. A suggestion is to check EVERY bolt in your engine compartment because if it was getting enough vibration to knock the ring gear off there is a good chance there are a lot of other loose things in there.

FB II

wow yea, i wasn't payin attention when i read that.... just get a new lightweight flywheel

bliffle

If there's a junkyard anywhere nearby I'd just get a new assembly. You have to remove the flywheel anyhow, and if you overheat the ring gear you will anneal it, the teeth will get soft, and the starter pinion will ruin it so you have a job awaiting you.

Back in those Golden Olden days when I pitted for SCCA drivers, they always insisted on lightweight aluminum flywheels. I figured it was to impress the girls (mostly movie starlets) with accelerator blips, mostly in the pits, tho I confess it makes downshifts slightly faster. Of course that means the clutch plate will gall the soft flywheel face, so we usually bolted on a steel plate to take the abuse. But then that steel plate formed a heat barrier so it would get exceedingly hot and the clutch would slip. What to do what to do? So I started taking the Al flywheel to an anodizing shop and had it anodized file-hard to resist galling and that left the clutch surface in sufficiently intimate contact with the mass of the flywheel to promote heatflow and reduce the average temp of the clutching surface. Worked good.

loquin23

it happens mine just did the same thing?????

loquin23

how much is a new flywheel and were is the best place to get or order it. im sure ill have to order it.....lol...
edit...sorry i am a 2nd gen i searched and thread jacked....lol