cost to have flywheel replaced?

[Old Red Ranger]

Its Fixed!!!!

I Got the starter fixed the other night, everything went surprisingly smooth. Just drilled the upper mounting hole in the bellhousing out to 29/64" and slapped it all together with a M12 bolt, a couple lock washers, and a nylon insert nut. The only hard part was getting enough clearance with my 3/4" drive ratchet to tighten the nut. I don't have a 3/4 extension so the pear shaped head was hitting the solenoid cover on the starter. Other than that, it was much easier than expected and my truck now starts beautifully with no ugly noises.

Thanks very much to all who offered help or suggestions, or even if you just read my rants on here.

 

[Mutant Pony]

I wish I had caught this thread sooner. I would have(and have many times) drilled the hole the proper size for 10x1.50 threads then tapped it all the way through. Then measure for the proper length to fit just flush with the back side of the hole. You would have the proper bolt size and the threads would hold fine.

 

[Old Red Ranger]

good idea in theory, but since the hole was already drilled and tapped for M10x1.5 from the factory, and the threads were stripped out, this would not be possible except for installation of M10 STI. Thanks for your input though

 

[BlackBII]

Just had another thought...

Does anybody know if it would hurt anything to just drill through the bell housing in the upper starter mounting hole and use a longer bolt with a nut? I have a small 120v MIG welder at the house and once the bolt is tight I could weld the nut to the back of the bell housing to secure it

I had this EXACT prob with my old 85 BII, I did almost exactly that, ruined a flywheel, and stripped out the bellhousing. I drilled through the bellhousing and used a longer bolt with a nut and it worked great, I didn't weld it, and I do not suggest welding it. I noticed that my starter wasn't fully engaging my flywheel, it was like it off by about a 2' degree angle, I placed a washer under the oppisite side of the ear on the starter to direct it the other way, and it worked great with no grinding whatsoever after that, just something to look at I guess.