Just to pass along something I experimented with (cause I'm cheap as hell) 
or
replacement of the starter gear that's around the perimeter of my flywheel on
my '77 Ford F250 with a manual transmission. The gear was chewed up terribly
making it impossible to start. I thought (even after 30 years of working on
cars and trucks) that the flywheel and gear were one piece. Not so, I found,
after calling my local auto parts store. It's a gear assembly, shrunk onto a
rabbet in the back of the flywheel.
The old gear is easy to drive off with a mechanic's helper (BIG hammer). The
new one is slightly too small to just drive on, and would be too much work
anyway. I heard it was "sweat fitted" (which means expanded then cooled). So
rather than fork out $15 or more to a machine shop, I decided to try heating
the gear and freezing the flywheel. I set the flywheel in the freezer (don't
tell my wife) for an hour and the gear into a 500 degree oven for 30 minutes.
I had a block of wood to hold the flywheel off the ground (I figured I'd have
to tap it around into place) and when I grabbed the gear out of the oven 
itha
pliers and sat it in place to see the difference - it sat right into place, 
o
tapping or anything. Then I let it all stabilize to room temperature for 30
minutes and it was ready to reinstall.
Many of you may have already known this, but many others may not. This way
they'll save a trip to the machine shop/welder when it's time to do one on
their own vehicle.
- Pedit Ver 2.6
Russ Blakeman, SysOp Extraodinaire
Blue Moon of Kentucky BBS/Harned, KY 40144
FidoNet 1:2450/500   VETLink #96 19:201/400  BBS/Fax (502) 756-6991
...What is learned in youth is understood in age.
--- ProBoard v2.15 [Reg]
1:2450/500)
---------------