Hi Guys;

Just picked up my flywheel from the machine shop and while they were able to "clean-up" the clutch surface, I only have about 0.175" thickness above the ring gear. Is there a ball park figure for a minimum thickness here? Also, I had the ring gear flipped while it was at the shop, but as you can see in the picture, it is so badly pitted, the starter gear may miss a tooth or two if it stops on a bad spot. AND THIS WAS THE BETTER SIDERono

  Ron Lane,  Meridian, ID

As far as I know, new ring gears are available. Mac's list them in their catalog. Can't help you on the thickness issue.

54 Victoria 312;  48 Ford Conv 302, 56 Bird 312
Forever Ford
Midland Park, NJ

I would definitely get a new ring gear.  Free junk isnt free when shipping is $35.oo.

Mike, located in the Siskiyou mountains, Southern, OR 292 powered 1946 Ford 1/2 ton, '62 Mercury Meteor, '55 Country Squire (parting out), '64 Falcon, '54 Ford 600 tractor.

If when you had the ring gear flipped, the fitted rotated it 45degrees you would have been OK.

The crank only stps in the same 4 spots when it stops. If you are missing teeth it probably needs replacing.

Regards

Rick - West Australia
Do Y Blocks Downunder run upside down? Gravity Sucks!!

Rono:

You will have to make sure the springs in the center of the clutch disc do not hit the heads of the flywheel attaching bolts in the recessed area.

John - "The Hoosier Hurricane"

Thanks Guys;

Mac's does have new ring gears so that's good! John, I never thought about the clutch spring clearance issue. I was more concerned about heat build-up and warpage if the flywheel was thinned too much.

  Ron Lane,  Meridian, ID

Rono:

I had a flywheel that was lightened by machining material off the side facing the engine, about 3/8" as I remember.  Used it in my drag '56 T-Bird, no heat or warp problems.  You shouldn't have any problem with the one you have that is only resurfaced. 

John - "The Hoosier Hurricane"

Rono, my shop manual says that the maximum that should be removed from stock when resurfacing a Flywheel is 0.045". They don't say what the stock thickness is, so if your flywheel has been or could have been resurfaced before this is not very helpful. If someone knows the specs for a stock flywheel we could mark this down in our shop manuals. I've got two flywheels that I need to get resurfaced so this would be good to know.

Mark

1956 Mercury M100
1955 Ford Fairlane Club Sedan
Delta, British Columbia

Mark;

That's really good information! I'm just guessing here, but if I measure the backside of the flywheel from the surface of the ring gear, the thickness is about 0.250". Could it be that when they machined these flywheels they had 1/4" of thickness in front of and in back of the ring gear? Sounds logical to me, but what do I know. If that is the case, then the flywheel I have has been surfaced about 0.075" since I only have 0.175" of thickness in front of the ring gear now.

Rono

  Ron Lane,  Meridian, ID

I have a flywheel without a ring gear you can have for shippingcost. Its not an 11 inch but unsure how to measure to see what it is.

54 Victoria 312;  48 Ford Conv 302, 56 Bird 312
Forever Ford
Midland Park, NJ