Need some help with my YJ
 

I just bought a YJ and it's looking like I need to change the ring gear on my flywheel. If not the whole flywheel. Anyone up to giving me a hand with this? LOL I'm a noob with this stuff so I just need a little guidance and a place to do it. I'll be glad to compensate for your time.

Auto or clutch? Carwash, TKH fab and a couple of others on the board may be able to help.

It's a manual. Sorry for not specifying that. I'm going to go ahead and replace a few things while I'm in there. Unless I can get someone to rebuild my tranny fairly cheap. I might just do that. If not, there are some things I want to replace to prevent future problems. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

if it's a "flywheel", then it's a manual. it's called a flex-plate or such in an automatic.

Have you priced a new flywheel altogether with ring and all on it? If you have it out, changing the gear, then you might as well have it turned as well, and replace the clutch if it's questionable as well.

How did you diagnose that it's the flywheel and not the starter gear? Can you look in there and see teeth missing, etc?

All of my shop work now happens between the hours of 10 pm and 6 am, due to working another full time job, and i dont think i have any time to do this for you. wish i could help.

Do make sure that you have diagnosed it correctly before tearing into it and replacing the wrong stuff.

Well, I'm not completely positive that it's the flywheel. I'm assuming. I'm going off the fact that the previous owner put on a new starter and now it's acting up. He says it didn't do this until he put the starter on. This is just what he says so for all I know it could have been doing this before he put the starter on and he put it on thinking that would solve it and it didn't so he sold it. I'm aiming at the worst possible scenario so I'm not let down. lol It's one of 3 things I guess. He either put the starter in and it isn't lined up correctly (i've been told this is possible to do). He got a bad starter. Or the flywheel is missing teeth. The ring gear is about 30 bucks (a new flywheel w/ the ring gear is about 80), a clutch is about 140 and the shop said they'd resurface the flywheel for free since I'd be buying all that other stuff from them. I was also told I should change the slave cylinder while I was in there.

well, i think it's yer starter... take it out, look at the bendix gear, have it tested etc. If it is bad, should have a warranty.

what exactly is it doing?

Well, sometimes it will start and other times the starter acts like it's not grabbing the flywheel. That's why I'm thinking it could very well be the flywheel since it grabs sometimes and not others. But I'm not very knowledgeable about things like this so if you've heard of this happening and it ended up being the starter please let me know. lol Is there a possibility of the starter being installed wrong and it not lining up right?

the starter takes 2 bolts and a wire to get it off... take it off and have it tested.

then, look inside that hole it came out of and see if you see any bad teeth.

Well wouldn't I have to rotate it as well to look at the rest of the flywheel? This might sound stupid but how do I do that?

turn the crank with a wrench and the bolt on the front of the harmonic balancer. pull the spark plugs out if you want it to turn easy.

Crap. I'm not looking forward to this. Once I see some chewed up teeth I'm gonna be pissed. lol

So just out of pure curiosity, did this guy completely bull**** me when he said the starter could need lined up correctly? My g/f's dad also said that's what it could be but I'm not seeing on here where it'd need to be lined up.

Some vehicles have shims for the starter to be correctly aligned. Does sound like it is a starter issue. Good thing is it is easier to change.

they sell starter shims for a reason. keep in mind, your remanufactured starter has probably been on 5 vehicles before yours, so who knows how perfect that mounting surface is...

just pull the starter and take a look at it. Autozone will test it for free. if it having issues, you will be able to tell from the teeth on the bendix.

when you go to pull it, keep turning the rig off if it starts right. restart it till you find a spot where it spins and wont catch. then pull the starter. if it's the flywheel, you will be able to see it then without turning the crank.

dangit, i was typing too long, you beat me with the starter shims.

I swear if it's a starter issue I'm going to be the happiest bastard alive. lol I guess I've just prepared myself for the worst. Well, where it's sitting right now it won't start. So if I pull it there should be damage on the flywheel visibly if it is in fact the flywheel.

pull that starter, keep us posted.

Will do. You'll be hearing from me again in about 2.5 hours. lol

Recently I've attempted to purchase a starter for a 91 Toyota Camry & a 93 Plymoh Voyager from Advance Auto Parts. Both times the starters they sold me were THE WRONG STARTERS for the vehicles, even though that's what was listed for the vehicle in their computers.

Both times I've had to take the OEM starters off and get the part numbers to cross reference, then the "new" starters worked fine.

I could definitely see a replacement starter being the incorrect one for the vehicle & causing a noise like this. If you have the correct starter/flywheel on your vehicle, then you really shouldn't need shims if it didn't have them on the starter that was taken off, because the replacement should be the exact same dimensions.

Well guys, here are pics of the carnage. I believe I need to replace a flywheel.

http://www.ipixelspot.com/files/19/Picture%20346.jpg
http://www.ipixelspot.com/files/19/Picture%20348.jpg

bummer... that stinks...

most important, what caused it to happen? was it a mis-installed starter? how were the bolts when took it out? tight?

Yeah I forgot to add that part. The one lower bolt was finger loose. I took it out with my fingers. The upper bolt was tight. So yeah, the guy didn't tighten the bolt down so I'd say that's probably the culprit. I hope anyway. Well, it looks like I'm going to yank the engine out this weekend and get to work on it. Hopefully I have it done soon. I really need a car to drive. I'm not liking having to use my g/f's car. lol I have a show car but it sits in the garage and can't drive it everyday. A lot of good that damn thing does.

So I get on Advance Auto Parts and Autzone's websites. Each site is showing a different part that goes to my car. lol That helps. Here they are. The first one is from Advance. The 2nd from Autozone.
http://www.partsamerica.com/product_...fw/std1001.jpg
http://www.autozone.com/images/produ...std1004003.jpg

Can anyone tell me which is the correct one?

hmmm, hard to tell. one might be specific, and the other might be multiple applications. best way is to have yours in hand when you buy it.

you are pulling the engine, as opposed to the tranny?

Yeah. I've heard from multiple people that it's easier to pull the engine rather than tranny. One big reason is pulling the engine, you'll be standing up quite a bit. Pulling the tranny and you are on your back most of the time and it's a pain in the nuts to get that heavy ass thing out from underneath. So I'd rather pull the engine. lol