1984 flywheel ring gear

[krakenslayer604]

I couldn't find a flywheel for my truck, and the ring gear is totally f--ed up. I'm planning on replacing the ring gear itself. I've looked into how to do this in general. Has anyone done this and have any tips?
Thanks,
Sean

 

[adsm08]

Couldn't find, or didn't look very hard?

2.8 and 2.9 use the same flywheel. 2.8 2.9 and 4.0 use the same flex plate. I know they are still out there.

 

[krakenslayer604]

They're the same flywheel? I was getting different part numbers for them. Even just different part numbers from 1984 to 1985, both 2.8 l engines.

 

[Kevin Evans]

Never swapped out just the ring gear personally. I know rockauto has them in stock though.

Anyway... what's caused the ring gear to get so messed up?

 

[adsm08]

They may not be identical, but they can be swapped around.

I'd just go whole hog and do a 4.0 clutch swap.

 

[krakenslayer604]

I was having starter grinding issues, and I'm guessing PO's probably had some too. I pulled the starter off, bolts were stripped a bit, and the ring gear was chewed up a bit more than I'd like (Not as totally f--ed up as I thought, I'd just been looking at one bad section.) I put on a new starter, drilled the holes and attached it with nuts and bolts, added another ground wire to it, and it starts up fine most of the time now. It's my daily driver and due to where I have to park it, push starting is not really an option. And as far as the 4.0 clutch swap, I thought I had read somewhere that the pilot bearing was different between the two setups? Is this an issue or am I completely confused?

 

[enginepaul]

When I replace my 85 flywheel, it was made in China and I had to replace the starter gear soon after. Screwed around, bought a RockAuto flywheel/ring gear. It was made in China, but worked.

 

[krakenslayer604]

Turns out changing the ring gear itself is the easiest part of the process. Pop the flywheel off, heat the gear up and tap it off. I found putting the new gear in the oven for a couple minutes heated it up evenly enough that it slip back onto the flywheel. I couldn't heat it up evenly enough with the mapp gas torch i had.